After taking their oaths this morning in a simple ceremony at the Commission on Elections office in Manila, newly appointed Commissioners retired Court of Appeals Justice Lucenito Tagle and former Malabon Regional Trial Court Acting Judge Leonardo Leonida started to buckle down to work.
“We won’t even allow these two to warm their seats here in the office,” quipped COMELEC Chairman Jose A.R. Melo during a brief press conference after the ceremony.
“They will be deployed immediately to oversee the upcoming automated elections in the ARMM,” the COMELEC chief said.
Both Commissioners Tagle and Leonida agree that the 11 August 2008 automated elections at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is fated to serve as a “litmus test” not only for the full automation of the country’s electoral system come 2010, but also “to prove that the COMELEC is doing its job well.”
Hit the ground running
“We expect them to hit the ground running. We only have a month before the ARMM elections, their baptism of fire, so we asked them to buckle down to work right away,” said Melo.
Commissioner Tagle, worked as a Special Attorney for the COMELEC fresh out of UP College of Law in 1960. He stated that he was all keyed up to be back to the institution he once served.
“Though this came as a surprise, I’m very happy to be back,” he said, adding that he just retired from the Court of Appeals a week ago. He also considers his new job as COMELEC Commissioner a “perfect birthday gift” as he just celebrated his 70th birthday last June 26.
“I vow to improve the image of the COMELEC, to make it more credible to the people,” he said.
For his part, Commissioner Leonida vowed to “uphold the mandate of the Commission to ensure clean, honest and orderly elections; enforce election laws fairly and render equal justice for all.” ###
