The Commission on Appointments on Wednesday approved the appointment of two oficials of the Commission on Elections and on Audit but deferred the confirmation of a Civil Service commissioner.
During the CA’s plenary session with Senate President Franklin Drilon presiding, the appointments body approved the appointments of Comelec’s Sheriff Abas and CoA’s Isabel Dasalla-Agito but postponed the appointment of CSC’s Nieves Osorio.
“The House requested for deferment,” said Drilon. But he did not know their concern. He said they will schedule them for the next session.
“At least we confirmed the two commissioners of the said constitutional bodies,” Drilon said .
During the next session, the Senate leader said they will work on the confirmation of the Armed Forces and the career ministers and counsellors of the Department of Foreign Affairs, before Congress adjourns sine die.
Before the CA agreed to Abas’ appointment, lawmakers from the CA’s committee on constitutional commissions and offices, questioned the Comelec official about the controversial introduction of a new script change in the transparency server on the night of the elections.
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting was conducting a quick count when an IT expert Marlon Garcia of Smartmatic introduced a new program that changed the hash code of the server.
But Abas stressed that the script change, which corrected the “?” character into “ñ” that appeared in the names of some candidates, was made by Smartmatic without clearance from the Comelec en banc.
He also reiterated Garcia’s claim the alteration was just “cosmetic” and did not affect the results of the elections.
He said Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista had already ordered an investigation into the matter. He likewise echoed the stance of Bautista that the new script that resulted in the change in hash code did not in anyway affect the results of the elections.
On who gave Garcia the authority to change the script, Abas said: “As far as the en banc is concerned, there is none. Again, this is without prejudice to the investigation being conducted by our office.”
Abas said he was only informed about the change two days after the incident.
Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara asked Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, who was present in the plenary, about his views on the change script.
Lim said it was unnecessary but cosmetic.
Abas, appointed by President Aquino to his position last year, is expected to serve a seven-year term until February 2, 2022.