PadacaNewly-appointed Comelec Commissioner Grace Padaca wrote to correct what I said in my column in Abante last Sunday that she would be the tie-breaker in the case of Akbayan as partylist.
I wrote: “Hati raw ang Comelec sa isyu ng Akbayan at ang boto ni Grace Padaca, ang bagong Comelec commissioner, ang magdedesisyon kung lusot o tanggal ang Akbayan. Naloko na. (It has been reported that Comelec is deadlocked on the issue of Akbayan and the vote of Grace Padaca, the new commissioner, will decide whether Akbayan would be disqualified or not. Oh my God.)”
I made the comment based on at least three news reports quoting Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. : “Pinass on ko na lahat ng cases kay Padaca… We’re sending her the folders to break the tie.”
Padaca, accompanied by Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, a Liberal Party stalwart, posts P70,000 bail given by President Aquino.What is it in being in position of power that dulls the mind and blurs the comprehension of people we thought were sensible?
Former Isabela Governor and newly appointed commissioner of the Commission on Election posted the following reply to those who are criticizing her for accepting bail money from President Aquino. She cited this particular tweet: “ “Grace Padaca’s acceptance of bail money and refusing to subject herself to investigation speaks volumes of her character.”
Padaca’s reply:
“If i have done things the usual way, i would not have fought the dynasty in Isabela and win.
Note:I did this story for VERA Files Elections Commissioner Rene Sarmiento is urging President Aquino to make history by appointing state solicitor Jessica S. Magbanua,…
Does not forget and forgivePoor Gus Lagman. He didn’t know what hit him.
Never did he imagine that we would be a collateral damage in President Aquino’s rabid pursuit to make Gloria Arroyo accountable for her crimes against the Filipino people.Collateral damage
As a commissioner in the Commission on Election, never did it cross Lagman’s mind that he would be a factor in the impeachment against Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona, which is related to Aquino’s crusade against Arroyo.
Last week, Communications Strategy Secretary Ricky Carandang announced that the President would not issue an ad-interim appointment for Lagman, who has not been confirmed by the Commission on Appointments, chaired by Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile because they have been informed by CA members that “ it will be difficult, if not impossible, to confirm him.”
COMELEC Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. hands over the COMELEC’s Integrity Pledge to Makati Business Club (MBC) Chairman Ramon del Rosario Jr. Also present in the photo are representatives of the MBC and the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP) and COMELEC Commissioners Lucenito Tagle, Christian Robert Lim and Augusto Lagman.Ang isang malaking kasalanan ni Gloria Arroyo sa sambayanang Pilipino ay ang pagsira ng mga institusyon pangdemokrasya para lamang manatili siya sa kapangyarihan.
Sinira niya ang military nang ginamit niya ito para mandaya para sa kanya noong 2004 na eleksyun. Sinira niya ang institusyon ng hustisya sa pamamagitan ng paglagay ng mga taong kulang sa integridad basta lang susunod sa gusto niya.
Sinira niya ang Comelec sa paggamit niya para mandaya sa kanya.
Ang mandato ng Comelec ay ang siguraduhin na magkaroon ng maayos, malinis, at kapani-paniwala na eleksyun na magpapalabas ng kagustuhan ng taumbayan. Ang eleksyun ay isang mahalagang elemento ng demokrasya. Ang eleksyun ang nagbibigay buhay sa sinabi ni Abraham Lincoln, dating president ng Estados Unidos, na ang demokrasya ay “pamahalaan ng taumbayan, na pinapamahalaan ng taumbayan, para sa taumbayan.”
The displaced director of the Commission on Elections’ Law Department has accused Chairman Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. of unethical behavior for allegedly requesting him to help absolve two Comelec officials ordered suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman for approving the P690 million contract to purchase ballot secrecy folders for the 2010 elections.
Lawyer Ferdinand Rafanan, who served as head of the Comelec Law Department for three years until he was relieved on Aug. 15, said Brillantes had asked him pointblank to talk to the Ombudsman’s spokesman on how to clear Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members Maria Lea Alarkon and Allen Abaya of charges of “simple neglect of duty, simple misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.”
The irony is, it was Rafanan who had investigated the transaction and concluded an overprice.
