Binay asks Comelec to probe GMA’s midnight appointments

by Jerico Javier & Alex T. Silva

From Journal Online

Link: http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/national/6287-binay-asks-comelec-to-probe-gmas-midnight-appointments.html

OPPOSITION vice-presidential bet Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay yesterday said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should apply its diligence in counting the television airtime of candidates to investigating motu proprio President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s recent midnight appointments.

“If the poll body is so gung ho in reprimanding candidates who have exceeded their television advertisement allotment, then it should apply the same proactive stance in determining if Mrs. Arroyo had exceeded her authority in making election-period appointments,” he said.

Binay said if the Comelec can “micro count the seconds” of candidates’ TV ads then it cannot ignore a big issue like Mrs. Arroyo’s wholesale release of new appointment papers to high-government positions.

He said the Comelec had even reprimanded candidates for plastering posters in wrong places and detailed the size of the posters and the places where they should be put.

“I hope this vigilance and attention to detail should be applied on Mrs. Arroyo’s midnight appointments as well. It cannot be so finicky on posters while being insensitive on presidential appointments,” Binay said.

He insisted that the issue of midnight Cabinet and judicial appointments deserve the Comelec’s attention more than poster violations. “The ban on last-minute executive appointments is written in the Constitution,” he said.

Binay said it is within the Comelec’s powers to summon Mrs. Arroyo’s official representative and make him explain, in person or in writing, the legal basis for the recent appointments she had made.

“The Comelec need not wait for a complainant . It can initiate the scrutiny on its own. After all, its job is to monitor compliance with election laws, so if it sees a violation, then it should immediately blow the whistle,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) standard-bearer former President Joseph Estrada accused President Arroyo of being the opposite of his father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, for the midnight appointments she made despite the ban on them because of the coming elections.

Estrada made the accusation as a reaction to the midnight appointments made by Malacañang recently, including the appointments of a new member of the Court of Appeals and the Philippine ambassador to Germany.

“’Di niya sinusunod ang batas, mabuti pa ang tatay niya. Dapat sundin na lamang n’ya ’yun. Dapat what her father done she should follow, tatay niya ’yun ’di niya sinusunod,” Estrada said the other night during a campaign sortie in Cainta, Rizal.

Estrada recounted that GMA’s father denounced the “midnight appointments” made by his predecessor, former President Carlos P. Garcia.

Estrada added that despite the good example of her father, President Arroyo failed to follow his legacy as she violated the law by appointing government officials despite the ban.