By Meanne Corvera
Eagle News Service
The Commission on Appointments on Wednesday, May 23, confirmed the appointment of Sheriff Abas as chair of the Commission on Elections.
No one in the plenary dissented to the confirmation of Abas, 39, who replaced Andres Bautista following his resignation over allegations of ill-gotten wealth against him.
During questioning by the CA, Abas said that the Comelec was open to the conduct of hybrid elections in 2019, but that so far, there was a law that says that national elections should be automated.
He added that based on their computation, under hybrid polls, the government would spend P20 billion to P30 billion, or almost triple the expenses if the elections were fully automated.
“Ang suggestion po namin, pag-aralan pong mabuti kasi meron na po kaming experience at pinademo namin sila noong 2015. Pumalya po yung ganung klaseng sistema,” he added.
He noted that based also on experience, cheating was possible with such a system in place.
“Yung nangyari sa Maguindanao, pinalitan na yung (election returns)..but again based sa nakita namin your honor..doon ang problema. Nagkaroon ng switching sa ER,” he added.
Even then, he said that if a hybrid election was the “decision of Congress, whether the House or the Senate we will submit to the wisdom of Congress.”
Priorities
Abas, a nephew of Moro Islamic Liberation Front chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, will serve as Comelec chief until February 2, 2022.
He said among his priorities were the activation of the hack precinct finder, and the addressing of issues relating to the voting of Persons With Disabilities.
“Imaintain (din) ang security na walang failure of elections in the 2019 elections,” Abas added.
Abas, 39, is the first Comelec chair from Mindanao.
He was acting assistant regional director of the Civil Service Commission in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao before he was appointed to the poll body.
