It is illegal to have any personnel movement in the government 45 days before the elections without the consent of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), a poll official said on Friday, May 6.
Comelec Commissioner George Erwin Garcia made the statement after he was asked about the reshuffling of the poll body's personnel pointed out by Commissioner Marlon Casquejo in a memorandum addressed to the Commission En Banc.
Garcia stated that this was one of the subjects of their En Banc deliberation last Wednesday.
He also confirmed the designation of a personnel who is not a part of the Comelec and that there were others more.
In Casquejo's memorandum, he stated that the office of Comelec Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan assigned a certain Atty. Ramil Comendador, allegedly from the Law Department, as Acting Election Officer (EO) of Picong, Lanao del Sur.
Casquejo stated in his memorandum that Comelec's law department does not have an employee in the name of Atty. Ramil Comendador. The basis for this assignment, according to Casquejo, is unknown. If gone unnoticed, the poll body would then be allowing someone not from the Comelec to chair the canvassing in the municipality of Picong, Lanao del Sur.
Casquejo, who heads the poll body's steering committee for the 2022 polls, said in a five-page memorandum dated May 2 that the reshuffling should have been finalized by February 2022. He said that this was the ideal period to end all personnel movement to give them sufficient time to prepare.