Lagman: Removal from Comelec not related to Corona

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Commissioner Augusto “Gus” Lagman is distancing himself from stories claiming that his removal from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is related to the Corona impeachment trial.

And Malacañang is saying that the decision to remove him was “mutual” between him and the Aquino administration.

“They got it out of context. I don’t want my statements to be contextualized that way,” Lagman said when asked about whether or not he believes that his removal was Malacañang’s way of currying favors with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the presiding officer of the Corona trial who has opposed his nomination to the Comelec.

“I would like to believe that my removal was due more to the fact that I dissented in the option to purchase the PCOS machines,” he told Rappler in a phone interview Wednesday, April 18.

Lagman was referring to the precinct count optical scan machines that were used in the 2010 automated presidential elections but which were criticized for various glitches.

Lagman had opposed the Comelec’s decision to use the same PCOS machines for the coming 2013 senatorial and local races. Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes however has defended the poll body’s decision to again use the same machines and deal with the same company Smartmatic, supplier of PCOS.

Lagman announced on Tuesday, April 17, that Malacañang has decided not to re-appoint him as Comelec commissioner.

Malacañang explained that President Aquino made the decision after it was learned that “it would difficult, if not impossible” for him to get the  Commission on Appointments (CA) nod.

Mutual decision

Secretary Ramon Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office said in a news briefing Wednesday that Lagman himself had agreed not to be re-appointed after being informed about the situation.

“In consultation with Commissioner Lagman, we decided instead of having him go through that whole, sometimes painful, process only to be rejected, we…mutually agreed we would just not reappoint him,” Carandang said.

He said that according to House majority leader and Mandaluyong Rep Neptali Gonzales II, “they were fairly confident, they said, that Gus Lagman would be rejected by the Commission on Appointments if we insisted on appointing him.”

Carandang said that as far as Malacañang and Lagman are concerned, “the issue has been settled.”

He added: “This has nothing to do with impeachment,” he said. The decision “was mutual…between the administration and Commissioner Lagman.”

An information technology expert, Lagman was appointed to Comelec by President Benigno Aquino III in April last year. He has been repeatedly appointed on an ad interim basis in between sessions of Congress, which allows him to act as Comelec commissioner even without approval from the CA.

Lagman conceded there were rumors that the Palace was trying to save him from a possible rejection at the CA, since Enrile supposedly would never agree to his appointment. Malacañang is already facing difficulty with the appointment of another official, Ambassador to China Domingo Lee, who has been rejected thrice by the CA. President Aquino has dropped hints he won’t be renewing Lee’s appointment.

Lagman said that given the choice, he would rather face the CA and explain himself.

Enrile and Namfrel

Ferdinand Gaite, president of labor group Courage, revealed to media that Malacañang terminated Lagman to please Enrile and help secure a guilty verdict for Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Enrile has accused Lagman, a veteran election watcher, as part a supposed cheating conspiracy between the poll watchdog National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections and Comelec in the 1987 senatorial elections which the senator almost lost. Enrile landed in the last spot in that senatorial race.

“There could be a lot of speculations on this. [The Corona impeachment] is a big issue for Malacanang, so it is attacked,” Lagman explained.

Lagman admitted that he regrets his early removal from the Comelec. “What I feel sad the most about is that I know that I can do more in the commission,” he said.

Lagman was one of two commissioners appointed by Mr Aquino to the poll body in 2011, the other one being Christian Lim. Out of the 7 commissioners, Lagman is the only IT specialist; the rest are lawyers.

Many sectors welcomed Lagman’s appointment to the poll body. The first automated elections in 2010 using the PCOS machines were marred with controversies and glitches, and so various groups had expressed the hope that Lagman was value added to the poll body.

Lagman will be serving as an interim commissioner until April 22. He said he will go back to private practice. – Rappler.com