Maceda Jr., Celis take oath as new Comelec commissioners

New Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioners Ernesto Ferdinand Maceda Jr. and Nelson Celis took their oath of office before poll chairperson George Garcia on Monday.

It was on Thursday when the poll body announced that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. appointed Maceda and reappointed Celis as ad interim commissioners.

Both of them will serve until February 2, 2029.

In his speech, Maceda said he will help address issues on the disposition of cases, purging of voters list, enfranchisement especially among overseas contract workers, campaign finance, social media regulation, and substitution of candidates, among others.

“We should not be only as good as our latest accomplishments. For sustained reform, what we need is continuous review, capacity building, communications, strategy planning, and we prepare for our next great accomplishment,” Maceda said, referring to the “success” of the 2022 national and local elections.

For his part, Celis, who is a veteran information technology expert, underscored the importance of digitalization in elections.

“Ang ating eleksyon noong 2022 ay napakaganda. Na-obserbahan ko ang transition from 2010, 2016, 2019 automated elections, compared to 2022, mas maganda ang naging pamamalakad ng Commission on Elections…Mula ngayon at sa ating sa hinaharap, lalo pa nating pagagandahin ang ating digitalization,” he said.

(Our elections in 2022 were very good. I observed the transition from 2010, 2016, 2019 automated elections, and the conduct of the Comelec in 2022 was better... From now and in the future, we will further improve our digitalization.)

With the appointment of Maceda and Celis, the seven-man Comelec en banc is now complete. — RSJ, GMA News