Duterte assigns Boy Saycon to EDSA People Power Commission

FILE: President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed political operator Pastor “Boy” Saycon and businessman Christopher Carrion as members of the EDSA People Power Commission. (RENE LUMAWAG/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed political operator Pastor “Boy” Saycon and businessman Christopher Carrion as members of the EDSA People Power Commission.

Saycon’s and Carrion’s appointment papers were issued by Malacañang on Wednesday, but were signed by the President on January 18.

Both of them will be joining other members of the commission under the Office of the President, assigned with planning, organizing, and implementing the appropriate activities for the annual commemoration of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution that dethroned dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Saycon was known among political arena as having been close to former Philippine President Fidel Ramos, who turned out to be a driving force behind the candidacy of Duterte for the presidential seat.

Saycon is the secretary general of the Council of Philippine Affairs (COPA), which was established to protest against the Arroyo administration in 2000.

He hit the headlines in 2016 after he presented three witnesses before the media, hours before the proclamation of the President and Vice President-elects, to announce that they allegedly rigged votes in the May 9 polls.

In a press conference in the same year, Saycon revealed that the three witnesses were government employees and were asked to reconfigure the SD cards containing votes from Quezon province.

Their claims echoed the allegation of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who was outstripped by Liberal Party (LP) bet Leni Robredo in the vice presidential race, however Saycon denied their connection with the former senator.

The secretary general earlier accused former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III of corruption. Aquino is the son of the late President Corazon “Cory” Aquino, the icon of democracy and one of the prominent figures of the people’s revolt.

Saycon supported Aquino during his presidential bid back in 2010. He also helped in the election campaigns of several politicians like Ramos and former Vice president Jejomar Binay. He also took part in organizing the second EDSA Revolution that ousted former President Joseph Estrada.

The EDSA People Power Commission is led by National Historical Commission of the Philippines chair Rene Escalante, after Duterte, through an executive order, changed its structure.