Thursday, 28 October 2010 00:00
By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
The six commissioners of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) apparently would have to fend for themselves over reported problems stemming from the recent barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK or Youth Council) polls.
The possibility loomed as a result of Comelec Chairman Jose Melo flying to Hawaii for a vacation on Tuesday.
The barangay and SK elections were held on Monday.
Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento on Wednesday said that Melo had been permitted by the Comelec en banc to travel to Hawaii even before the October 25 synchronized balloting was set.
When asked if Melo’s trip was personal or official, Sarmiento replied that he was not privy to the nature of the Comelec chief’s vacation in Hawaii.
Commissioner Elias Yusoph said that the trip did not cost the government any.
According to Comelec sources who talked to The Manila Times on condition of anonymity, Melo took the Hawaii vacation along with retired justices of the Supreme Court (SC).
Melo had been a former High Court justice before he was appointed chairman of the Comelec.
He is expected to return to Manila on October 31.
Several officials and employees of the Comelec, who also spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, expressed disgust with the vacation taken by Melo.
They said that the Comelec chairman should have waited for the reported problems arising from Monday’s polls before leaving the country.
The officials and employees cited kinks in the October 25 vote such as delays in deliveries of election paraphernalia and pockets of violence that forced cancellation of the balloting in at least 1,599 villages across the country.
“Ewan ko ba diyan kay Chairman Melo, parang walang pakiramdam, ang daming problema sa barangay at SK elections, nagawa pa ring bumiyahe [I don’t
know what’s with Chairman Melo, looks like he is numb, there are problems with the recent polls but he chose to go to Hawaii],” a Comelec official told The Times.
There were reports that the poll body chief wanted to resign and seek another position in the Aquino administration.
The Times tried to reach the office of Melo but his chief of staff, retired Gen. Edgardo Gurrea, was not available for comment.
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