President Marcos administered the oath of office of three officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), including its new chairman, on Monday, Oct. 17.
Marcos swore in Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia and Commissioners Nelson J. Celis and Ernesto Ferdinand P. Maceda Jr. after their appointment to the poll body.
Garcia’s nomination as Comelec chairman has earlier been approved by the Commission on Appointments (CA).
He previously served as a commissioner of the poll body for a few weeks.
Celis, on the other hand, is an engineer who has a background in Information Technology. He is a long-time advocate for clean elections, having been a co-convener of AES Watch, a watchdog alliance that pushes for the clean and honest conduct of automated polls.
Maceda has served as dean of the College of the Law of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM).
He also taught law subjects, including election law, at the Arellano University and Ateneo De Manila University. He had also been president of the Universidad de Manila, and president and chairman of the Philippine Association of Law Schools.
On the same day, Marcos also swore in Paul David Soriano as Presidential Adviser on Creative Communications. He is the husband of Toni Gonzaga, one of the biggest supporters of Marcos during his electoral campaign.
READ MORE: Marcos names Paul Soriano as adviser for creative comms