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Boholano
judge eyed for top
Comelec post
By: KIT BAGAIPO
INGLES |
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Boholano
Judge Gabriel Ingles, currently the presiding judge
of the Cebu Regional Trial Court Branch 58, is among
nominees for chairman or commissioner of the Commission
on Elections (Comelec).
The
Comelec still has no chairman since October last year
when former chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. resigned amid
the National Broadband Network (NBN) deal controversy
for which he was charged with bribery.
The commission will also have two more vacancies next
month as two senior commissioners are also ending their
7-year terms of office. They are Commissioners Resureccion
Borra and Florentino Tuazon Jr.
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Ingles,
a native of Tagbilaran City, is a former SVD seminarian and
former dean of the College of Law of the University of San
Carlos. He is being endorsed by a coalition of groups pushing
for electoral reforms together with retired Supreme Court
Justice Jose Melo and Carlos Medina of the Legal Network for
Truthful Elections.
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Aside
from his judicial duties, Ingles is head legal counsel
of election watchdog Cebu-Citizens' Involvement and Maturation
in People's Empowerment and Liberation (C-Cimpel) while
teaching law at the University of San Carlos.
Ingles welcomed his nomination as it is also being endorsed
by civil society groups.
Ingles said to become Comelec chair or commissioner usually
required political backing and the ear of the president,
who makes the appointment to the position. The judge said
he did not have much political backing, nor would he seek
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"If
we want to change the image of the Comelec, I don't think
that's the proper thing to do," Ingles said.
Ingles
said he was interviewed by the Civil Society Search Committee
on December 7, 2007. The committee is composed, among others,
of former Comelec chairman Christian Monsod of One Voice,
Bertie Lim of the Makati Business Club, Edward Go of Namfrel,
and Sr. Sonia Aldeguer of the C-Cimpel.
The
Electoral Reform Advocates Search Committee for Comelec Appointments,
composed of 14 representatives of various groups, has called
on Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo not to give in to political
pressure when deciding on her next appointments to Comelec,
calling attention to the "lessons learned" from
the "terrible" tenure of Abalos.
The
search committee also named other possible successors to Borra
and Tuason. They are former judge Adoracion Avisado of Davao;
lawyers Howard Calleja, Luie Tito Guia, Teresita Herbosa and
Nasser Marahomsalic; information technology and business professional
Ma. Caridad Manarang; and Undersecretary Enrique Perez of
the Presidential Management Staff.
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