Some people in Legazpi City are walking on a tight rope because of the axe hanging over the head of Geraldine Rosal, the elected mayor of Legazpi City. According to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), she is disqualified for violating the election rules for allegedly engaging on vote buying. But before the second placer, Alfredo Garbin, took his oath of office, the Supreme Court issued a status quo ante order. That means Rosal will sit as the mayor until everything is settled.
Geraldine’s husband, Noel, was earlier disqualified for Albay Governor because of the same case. Unfortunately, Noel was not as lucky as Geraldine because the former was a sitting mayor when he allegedly violated Section 68(a) of the Omnibus Election Code and “gave money to influence, induce or corrupt the voters”.
The cases of Geraldine and Noel are not isolated cases. In fact, almost all local government officials are guilty of the same with some doing the act in benign manner. Or, some officials do not have aggressive opposition who are willing to move heaven and earth and seek the disqualification of the sitting and suspected incumbent guilty of Section 68(a).
To eradicate, if not minimize cases like the Rosals, the Congress could pass a law requiring reelectionists, starting with the local chief executives, to automatically resign from their public posts at the start of the campaign season. The local government will then be manned by the local government administrators who should be hired as career officials and not as employees who are co-terminus with their hiring authorities.
Continue reading “Addressing election case-related vacuum with career-based LGU Administrators”