“Jimenez had been comporting himself as if he is the Comelec, and that his limited understanding of the Constitution and the election laws should be considered the law of the land”
At long last, Atty. James Jimenez, the bearded, opinionated, and incompetent longtime spokesman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is no longer officially connected with the poll body.
Last August 31, 2022, the Comelec approved the retirement of Jimenez, without prejudice to the resolution of pending administrative issues against him.
Jimenez became the subject of controversy last April over botched up arrangements for an election debate to be held at Sofitel, a five-star hotel in the Manila Bay reclamation area.
It appears that an event organizer called Impact Hub Manila was to manage a series of election debates for the May 9, 2022 elections, to be held at Sofitel. Under the corresponding contract, Impact Hub Manila was to pay Sofitel in four installments in the amount of almost P20.6 million.
According to news reports, Impact Hub Manila was founded in 2015 by a certain Ces Rondario.
Although Impact Hub Manila was able to hold two initial debates in late March and early April this year, the last two debates scheduled for April 23 and 24 faced a serious glitch after Sofitel threatened to back out of the event following the unexplained failure of Impact Hub Manila to settle its remaining contractual debt to the hotel in the amount of more than P14-million.
On March 31, 2022, Sofitel wrote to Jimenez about the problem. In his written reply to Sofitel dated the next day, Jimenez guaranteed that Impact Hub Manila will honor its debt to Sofitel. Jimenez said that the Comelec will be the source of the funds to be used by Impact Hub Manila.
The Comelec postponed the remaining debates to April 30 and May 1, but with no payments to Sofitel forthcoming, the poll body eventually cancelled the debates.
That cancellation was irrelevant.
First, the Comelec never authorized Jimenez to make such a guaranty on behalf of the commission. Second, there was no public bidding for the hosting of the debates.
The public wanted to know why Jimenez was willing to spend public money, and lots of it, for the debates, when the major television networks were ready and willing to host them at no cost to the government.
Anyway, at least three members of the Comelec announced that no public money was spent to pay the balance due Sofitel.
Jimenez’ retirement from the Comelec should not have been allowed in the first place. He should have been placed under preventive suspension then made to explain his role in the irregularity.
Other issues have been raised against Jimenez prior to this election debate anomaly.
In September 2021, Jimenez told the media that only the Comelec can call on the Armed Forces of the Philippines to suppress lawlessness during an election. He said the President of the Philippines does not have that power during the election season.
Apparently, Jimenez does not read the Constitution. Section 2(4), Article IX-C of the charter states that the Comelec may call on the AFP to maintain peace and order during the elections, but only with the prior consent of the President.
Another Jimenez goof up took place in early 2022.
By the first quarter of 2022, then presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. decided against participating in any of the televised debates sponsored by the Comelec. According to Bongbong, he preferred to reach out to the electorate personally in the provinces.
Bongbong was very practical. The limited amount of time given to each presidential candidate to deliver a spiel in a televised debate, with 10 candidates in contention, is insufficient to thoroughly convey a candidate’s platform.
Bongbong was better off speaking in nationwide campaign sorties where he can say all that he needs to say to the electorate, and where his speeches will make it to the television news.
Jimenez reacted by declaring that if Bongbong continues to refuse to participate in the debates organized by the Comelec, Bongbong will not be featured in future online information activities to be undertaken by the poll body.
The public scored Jimenez for his foolish statement.
There is no law which compels a presidential candidate to participate in any debate organized by the Comelec.
Being so, the candidate concerned cannot be penalized or punished for his refusal to join, or his disinterest in participating in, those debates. Thus, there is no legal basis for Jimenez to unilaterally ban Bongbong from any future online information activities sponsored by the Comelec.
In sum, Jimenez had been comporting himself as if he is the Comelec, and that his limited understanding of the Constitution and the election laws should be considered the law of the land.
For that reason alone, Jimenez’s sudden departure from the Comelec is good news, and is in the best interest not only of the Comelec, but of the electorate as well.