President Duterte has appointed National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) Secretary Saidamen Pangarungan as the new chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), about two months away from the May 2022 elections.
This was confirmed by Palace Communications secretary and acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar in a virtual press briefing on Tuesday, March 8.
Aside from Pangarungan, Andanar announced that Duterte also named Aimee Neri and George Garcia as Comelec's ad interim commissioners.
Neri is an undersecretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), while Garcia is an election lawyer who handled the poll protest of former Senator Bongbong Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo for the 2016 vice presidential rice.
Pangarungan is the second Comelec chair from Mindanao and the second Muslim, after Sheriff Abas, who retired last Feb. 2.
Prior to the appointments, the Comelec has been operating with only four commissioners since last month, following the retirement of Abas, Antonio Kho, and Rowena Guanzon.
According to Andanar, the appointment of the new Comelec officials went through an extensive vetting process.
"Dumaan iyan sa vetting process at dapat respetuhin natin ang prerogative ng Pangulo na pumili nang itatalaga diyan (This went through the vetting process and we must respect the prerogative of the President to choose who will be appointed there)," Andanar said.
"Hindi naman ito basta lang, basta-basta lang na pinipili. Napakahabang proseso at mayroong mga vetting process (They were not just chosen out of the blue. It is a very long process and there is vetting process)... It is not easy to choose an appointee to a quasi-judicial independent body like the Comelec," he added.