COMELEC workers’ union lauds Abas appointment

FILE: Sheriff Abas (Photo: Rowena V. Guanzon/Twitter)

MANILA — The employees’ union of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) lauded the appointment of Commissioner Sheriff Abas as the new chairman of the poll body.

“We fully support the appointment of Comm Sheriff Abas as chairman of the COMELEC,” said Commission on Elections – Employees’ Union (EU) President Mac Ramirez in a statement.

He noted that President Rodrigo Duterte made the right choice in appointing him to the post.

“Being an insider, we believe President Duterte made a good choice in naming Chair Abas to lead the commission. We really need one who is already knowledgeable on how to run the elections,” Ramirez added.

He said they have known Abas as being sympathetic to the needs and demands of the COMELEC employees since he became a poll commissioner in April 2015.

“From the start, he has been an ardent fighter and defender of employees’ rights and welfare as shown in his key role in the first collective negotiation agreement between the union and management signed last year,” Ramirez added.

On Friday, Malacañang announced the appointment of Abas as the new head of the poll body.

The new COMELEC chairman has yet to get the confirmation of the Commission on Appointments (CA). Once confirmed, he will complete the unexpired term of Juan Andres Bautista, which is until February 2022.

Abas was appointed by then President Benigno Aquino III as a COMELEC Commissioner in April 2015.

Election watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said Abas “is the right man for the job.”

“It is good news! His warmth, his kind demeanor, his years in the Comelec as one of the Commissioners, his bring a brother Muslim (amid peace challenges facing Mindanao) will give the Commission a kind of sensitivity and energy needed for the introduction of electoral reforms for the marginalized and vulnerables,” PPCRV Chair Rene Sarmiento said  in an interview.

“I wish him the best in his stewardship of the Commission!” he added.

The election watchdog had served as citizens’ arm of the poll body in previous elections including the 2016 national and local polls.