BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) implemented a reshuffling of its provincial election supervisors in the region to ensure that efforts to sustain the conduct of an honest, orderly and peaceful elections will be guaranteed and to prevent their officers familiarity in their respective areas of assignments.
Under the new set up, Baguio-Benguet provincial election supervisor Julia Elenita Tabangin Caupyan was assigned in Mountain Province in lieu of lawyer Ricardo Lampac, who recently assumed as the new provincial election supervisor for Baguio-Benguet.
Lawyer Ricardo Bolintao, former Ifugao provincial election supervisor, will now be the new Kalinga provincial election supervisor, while lawyer Dexter Cawis, former Kalinga provincial election supervisor, is now the new Apayao provincial election supervisor.
Lawyer Nicasio Jacob, former Apayao provincial election supervisor, is now the new Ifugao provincial election supervisor.
It was learned that only lawyer May Rachel Belmes, who is the Abra provincial election supervisor, and lawyer John Paul Martin, city election officer, were not reshuffled from their current positions and will remain there in their respective offices for the conduct of the May 9, 2016 general and automated elections.
Earlier, the Comelec central office implemented a reshuffling of its regional directors nationwide wherein lawyer Julius Torres, the former regional director of Comelec-Cordillera, is now the regional director of Comelec-Ilocos Region while lawyer Ederlino Tabilas, former regional director of Comelec-Cagayan Valley is now the regional director of Comelec-Cordillera.
The reshuffling of regional, provincial and city election officials has been a common practice by the Comelec during the conduct of the mid-term and synchronized elections in order to prevent the familiarity of elections officials to their respective assignments which might be the start of their alleged involvement in partisan politics that would cast doubts on the results of every political exercise being done in the country every three years.
In the current set up of the country’s election system, the election for president, vice president and twelve senators is done every six years while the election for the last twelve senators, provincial governors, vice governors, boardmembers, city and municipal mayors, city and municipal vice mayors and city and municipal councillors are done every three years.
The reshuffled election officials will be ordered back to their original posts several weeks after the conduct of the May 9, 2016 general and automated elections or right after the winners of the elections shall have been proclaimed by the concerned election officials.
By Dexter A. See
