MANILA: Lawyer Maria Bernadette Sardillo declined her appointment as Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner and President Benigno Aquino has accepted her decision.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte yesterday said the Office of the President received a letter from Sardillo on Thursday, the same day her appointment was announced by President Aquino, turning down her nomination as Comelec commissioner.
At the same time, Valte assured the public that their concerns on the appointment of Macabangkit Lanto as another Comelec commissioner would be addressed immediately.
“I am deeply grateful for having been considered as commissioner in the Commission on Elections. However, it is also with deep regret that I am withdrawing my application to the commission. This decision was reached after consultation with my family who has prevailed upon me to remain in the private sector. Nevertheless, please be assured of my continued support to your administration,” Valte quoted Sardillo as saying in her letter.
According to Valte, the president has accepted the withdrawal of the application and that the only information given them was that Sardillo has a family member with health concerns. “And I think that was the reason why the family asked her to remain in the private sector,” Valte said over radio dzRB.
Valte said there was no replacement for Sardillo yet.
Asked about calls to appoint an information technology expert to the Comelec, Valte said the primary consideration in naming people to become officials of the poll body was their capability to execute the mandate.
Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes yesterday said he was disappointed that Sardillo declined her appointment to the poll body.
“I’m disappointed and saddened by this. Since she is an election lawyer, she would be a big help to the Comelec. We won’t have to teach her much,” Brillantes said in a telephone interview.
The poll chief said he called and texted Sardillo many times yesterday but failed to get any response. “I want to know why she declined but she is not answering my calls and text messages. There must be a reason why she declined,” he added.
According to Brillantes, he called Sardillo upon hearing of her appointment last Thursday but she did not give a hint that she would not accept the offer.
“I asked her when she would be coming to Comelec but she told me that she did not have a copy of her appointment papers then. I was hoping that she would come next week,” he said.
Malacanang on Thursday announced that Sardillo and Lanto would replace Comelec commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Armando Velasco who had both retired after completing their seven-year terms.
Sardillo was the lawyer of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD in the 2010 presidential elections.
She is a lawyer of former Supreme Curt associate justice Dante Tinga, who filed an electoral protest against Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano.
The Philippine Star
