Comelec strips Metro chief of post even as 2007 polls near

Director Ferdinand Rafanan, head of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) National Capital Region office, has been relieved from his post for the second time, triggering suspicions about the purpose and timing of his transfer, amid preparations for a national exercise. A source from the poll body who requested not to be named, said Rafanan was removed as Comelec NCR director and was ordered detailed to the office of poll Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. effective December 7. The source said Rafanan has been removed for “insubordination" in connection to his being vocal during the initial stages of the people’s initiative for Charter change. Rafanan had earlier issued a memorandum to Metro Manila election officers (EOs) informing them of the Supreme Court ruling on the Santiago vs. Comelec that prohibited the poll body from taking cognizance of a people’s initiative until a law is passed. Prior to that, Atty. Alioden Dalaig, the Comelec’s head of the legal department, issued a memo telling EOs that the poll body is authorized to verify signatures contained in the people’s initiative. “Chairman Abalos calls it insubordination," the source told reporters, referring to the opposing opinions of Rafanan and Dalaig. The same source noted that the poll executive’s removal from his post “happens again as election approaches." During the 2004 elections, Rafanan was removed as NCR head and transferred by Abalos and former poll Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to Eastern Visayas after he went after candidates violating laws on campaign advertisements. The source said Rafanan asked a copy of the en banc resolution allegedly adopting Dalaig’s opinion as a Comelec policy or a written order from his superiors, that he supposedly disobeyed. “Of course there in none. How does one disobey an opinion?" asked the source. But Comelec spokesman James Jimenez denied that Rafanan’s relief has something to do with his position on the people’s initiative project of allies of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. “The EOs have filed a complaint against him. They are asking that he be released. I think it’s because of attitudinal problems," Jimenez said in another interview. According to him, the EOs have complained about Rafanan’s “favoritism" toward applicants from Ilocos Norte and the University of the Philippines in hiring staff. “Those complaints have been there for long. His being detailed (at the chairman’s office) is not connected to (his opinion on) the people’s initiative. He only got a warning then and he said he was sorry. He was not sanctioned," Jimenez said. Asked why Rafanan is being relieved the second time during another election, the poll spokesman said, “it just happened at this time." On January 2, the commission en banc approved the guidelines for the conduct of a people’s initiative after the SC ruled that there is a law to back it up. - GMANews.TV