Inting quits helm of Comelec gun ban panel after en banc gives chair power to exempt

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Socorro Inting stepped down from her committee post following the en banc’s decision to give Chairman Saidamen Pangarungan the authority to unilaterally grant gun exemptions and place areas under the poll body’s control in “meritorious and urgent cases.”

According to GMA's Tina Panganiban-Perez, Inting sent a formal memorandum to the en banc Tuesday saying she is  “irrevocably” resigning as the chairperson of the Committee on the Ban on Firearms and Security Concerns (CBFSC) as the move rendered her office as “functus officio”.

The office of Comm Inting confirms her resignation as committee chair. @gmanews #Eleksyon2022 pic.twitter.com/vTSf7HPxeH

— Tina PanganibanPerez (@tinapperez) April 12, 2022

“The bestowal on the Chairman of the Commission of the power to grant gun ban exemptions and place Election Areas of Concern under COMELEC Control based on the vague and arbitrary phrase of ‘meritorious and urgent cases’ essentially rendered futile or pointless the existence and functions of the CBSFC,” she said.

“I cannot in good conscience continue to remain as CBSFC Chairperson when this same position has already been made inutile due to the enactment of Comelec Resolution No. 10777,” she said.

Voting 4-3, the Comelec Monday granted Pangarungan the aforementioned powers. It likewise announced gun ban exemptions have been granted to qualified senior government officials, National Bureau of Investigation agents, and election officers.—Sundy Mae Locus/LDF, GMA News