Arroyo names new Comelec commissioner

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang on Tuesday announced the appointment of a provincial prosecutor as the new commissioner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters that lawyer Elias Yusoph will take the place vacated by the late Comelec commissioner Romeo Brawner. Brawner died in May last year. Ermita said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo decided to select Yusoph – a Muslim – to show the government’s commitment to give the Muslim community representation in the poll body. Yusoph served as an assistant city fiscal at the Justice department from 1983 to 1987. He has been serving as a provincial prosecutor in Marawi City since. Yusoph – who passed the Bar in 1977 – was chosen after he was recommended by the Bishop-Ulama Conference, which is headed by Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV