CA OKs new Comelec commissioner Bulay’s appointment

The bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday approved the nomination of lawyer Rey Bulay as the new commissioner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Bulay got the unanimous support of the senators and congressmen after the CA committee on constitutional commissions and offices recommended the approval of his nomination.

President Rodrigo Duterte had nominated Bulay to the poll body for a term expiring on February 2, 2027.

In sponsoring his nomination, Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the CA panel, cited Bulay’s 40-year experience as a politician, legal practitioner, and businessman.

“A commissioner of his caliber is definitely what our poll body needs given in the pressing challenges of preparing for the upcoming 2022 national elections  in the midst of pandemic,” Villar said.

In the early part of his career as a public servant, Bulay was Muntinlupa City’s youngest elected councilor. He served in the city from 1988 to 1998 and from 2007 to 2010.

He graduated from the San Beda College of Law in 2001 and was admitted to the Philippine bar the following year.

Bulay had also served as an election lawyer.

Poll body chief Sheriff Abas earlier said Bulay was a "timely addition" to the Comelec en banc.

"His vast experience in law enforcement and the pursuit of good governance will greatly contribute to the Commission's thrust in the advancement of honest, orderly, peaceful, credible, and safe elections," Abas said.

In 2016, Duterte appointed him as a commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which is tasked to recover the ill-gotten wealth of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his family.

In June 2020, he was appointed as chief prosecutor in Manila.

Villar said Bulay had implemented stringent policies on expediting the resolution of cases and abolition of motion for reconsideration, among others. —VBL, GMA News