Melo: No full-time govt post after resignation

(Updated 4:48 p.m.) Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Jose Melo on Thursday said he is not keen on accepting any full-time government position after he steps down from his post in January next year. Melo said that while there are no offers yet from President Benigno Aquino III for any government position, he plans to spend most of his time with his family after he finally leaves government service. "Siguro, I will still be around... Kung saan puwede mag-serve, but not full time," he told reporters at a briefing in his office in Intramuros, Manila. Melo submitted last Monday his resignation letter to President Benigno Aquino III, expressing his intention to step down as Comelec chairman four years before his term ends in 2015. "It has been my singular honor and privilege to have served our country for that last 48 years, the last three of which have been with the Commission on Elections where I and my colleagues in the commission dedicated ourselves to giving the nation its first nationwide automated elections," Melo said in his letter. Melo's resignation will be effective January 31, 2011. Although Melo submitted his resignation to Malacañang only this week, he said he has informally informed President Aquino of his plan to step down as early as August to give the Palace enough time to find his replacement. "I informed the President of my plans to resign months ago to give my successor time to prepare for the ARMM [Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao] elections in August next year," he said.
"Move on" "I still have four years to go in my term but I believe it is time to move on. Indeed, I signed up for this job, as i have previously intimated to your excellency, with the sole intention of giving our people credible elections and an unchallenged president. I believe we accomplished both," Melo also said in his letter. Malacañang, meanwhile, wished Melo well in his future endeavors. "We wish Chairman Melo well in whatever future endeavors that he wishes to undertake and right now the Palace sees the need now to begin to start searching for new Comelec commissioners," said Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning head Ricky Carandang at a separate press briefing Thursday. Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa said the Palace "could not agree" more with Melo, noting that the Comelec under Melo's leadership proved that it is capable of conducting credible elections. "The President appreciates very much how the automated elections turned out and was handled by the Comelec despite the concerns raised before it really happened on May 10," Ochoa said. Next Comelec chairman? Melo, however, declined to recommend somebody to be his successor, although he said the next Comelec chairperson must have "good management skills, knowledge about information technology, honesty and integrity." Carandang said the selection process for Comelec vacancies would start next year. "I understand there will be three vacancies next year, so I think beginning next year we'll begin the search for new Comelec commissioners," he said. The other two vacancies will be the positions that will be left behind by Comelec Commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer and Gregorio Larrazabal, who are scheduled to end their terms in February 2011. Ochoa said he and President Aquino have yet to discuss Melo's resignation or the chairman's possible replacements in the commission. Melo was appointed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Comelec chairperson in 2008. His term of office was for seven years, or until 2015. Prior to his stint at the Comelec, Melo served as associate justice of the Supreme Court from 1992 to 2002. In 2006, he was appointed by then President Arroyo to head a body to probe the various cases of extrajudicial and political killings in the country, which targeted mostly militant activists and members of the media. The investigating body, known as the Melo Commission, concluded that most of the killings can be attributed to the military. —KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV