Lawmakers withhold confirmation of Comelec chief for third time
September 15, 2011
COMMISSION on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. failed to hurdle committee-level hearings of the Commission on Appointments Wednesday over allegations of corruption lodged against him by one of his own.
Brillantes, who has appeared before the CA committee on Constitutional committees and offices three times since his appointment, faces opposition from his subordinate, Comelec planning director Ferdinand Rafanan who submitted a signed statement to the CA Wednesday.
Rafanan has accused Brillantes of trying to subvert justice by telling him to try to get the Office of the Ombudsman either absolve or lower the penalty of Comelec officials found guilty over over-priced ballot security folders bought for the 2010 elections. He added Brillantes even promoted officials implicated in the scam.
He mentioned lawyer Allen Abaya “who was suspended by the Ombudsman” and was made director of the Comelec Law Department to replace Rafanan.
Another lawyer implicated in the folder scam, but was absolved by the Ombudsman, was promoted as Acting Director III of the department, Rafanan said.
The Comelec director, with whom Brillantes has had a falling out, has also accused him of ignoring comments on the 2010 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls.
Those elections were marked with widespread delays, with some barangays holding elections the next day.
Rafanan said when he sent Brillantes his report, his boss told him he “did not want to know the truth” and only wanted put closure on the issue.
Rafanan also said Brillantes admitted to bribing Comelec commissioners and lawyers of the Comelec Law Department. He said Brillantes even told him to “dirty yourself a little.”
Also on his list of accusations, Rafanan said is Brillantes’s move of “illegally” removing him.
Rafanan was initially reassigned from the Comelec law department to a joint Comelec-Department of Justice task force. Rafanan said the assignment was a “constructive dismissal.”
He has since been moved to the Comelec planning department.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, chairman of the CA, said Rafanan’s objection was unusual since it came at the last minute. He said that the CA had been holding confirmation hearings since April and that Rafanan should have objected then.
He had earlier called Rafanan’s objection a “subterfuge” and a “machination to impede” the CA from doing its job since Rafanan was absent from the hearings.
Rafanan arrived on Wednesday afternoon but Enrile maintained that this case should not be a precedent for sending objections at the last minute.
Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, who has been criticizing Brillantes since January, explained the falling out with Brillantes only happened recently and that this explained the late objection.
In his affidavit, Rafanan said he even “texted all the (Comelec) lawyers and asked them to attend to show our support” in past confirmation hearings.
The contingent from the House of Representatives wanted to include Rafanan’s objection in confirmation hearings, however, prompting the committee to adjourn and set another hearing for next Wednesday, September 21.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, in an interview after the hearing, said, however, that the committee is “ready to recommend” confirmation. He added Rafanan’s objection was puzzling.
“I saw Director Rafanan here (at the last hearing), supporting the appointment,” he said, adding Rafanan could have submitted his opposition before the hearing started.
Cayetano has promised to invoke Section 20 of the CA rules, which allows any member to “move for the suspension of action by the Commission on any nomination or appointment favorably recommended by a standing committee.”
He said Brillantes has only been playing lip service to election reform. He said Brillantes has done little against officials implicated in the “Hello, Garci” scandal and on the over-priced folders.
Estrada said Cayetano can invoke Section 20 which will only force the CA to reschedule plenary consideration of Brillantes’s appointment. He said the committee will keep rescheduling and Cayetano can invoke Section 20 “as often as he wants.”
Aside from Rafanan’s objection, Brillantes will also have to satisfy Senator Franklin Drilon on an apparent disparity between his income tax returns and his assets.
Drilon asked Brillantes to explain why his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth (SALN) listed assets worth more than what he earned from 2006 to 2010.
The senator said Brillantes declared assets worth around P25.4 million. Listed among the former election lawyer’s assets were a house worth P3.1 million, a residential lot valued at P1.08 million, cars worth P2.3 million, personal items worth P3 million, and around P15.5 million in investments and deposits.
In contrast, Drilon said, Brillantes’s taxable income from 2006 to 2010 was only around P5 million.
Brillantes explained that the assets may have been bought before 2006.
He said that he bought his house in 1971 and that he has since renovated and had improvements done on it. He added that his assets include investments made before 2006.
“Well, the nominee is free to show proof (of that),” Drilon said.
Brillantes was directed to present his past Income Tax Returns to show that he got his assets legally.
Under questioning from Cayetano on why he only earned “a little bit over a million” in 2010, an election year, Brillantes countered, “I don’t charge that much.” (Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/09/14/lawmakers-withhold-confirmation-comelec-chief-third-time-179360
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