Wednesday, April 27, 2011
A VETERAN information technology executive was appointed as the next commissioner of the Philippines' Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Augusto Lagman, a coordinator of IBM Philippines Inc. and a certified computing professional, will serve as Comelec commissioner until February 2, 2018. He will fill the slot vacated by retired commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer.
President Benigno Aquino III signed the appointment papers last April 20.
"He has spoken on many issues related to the automated elections when it came to the commission and we are confident that he can discharge the duties of his office as capably and competently as he was in the past," deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said, as she announced Lagman's appointment during a press briefing in Malacanang on Wednesday.
She said Lagman was chosen due to his competence and not because of his strong opinions regarding the automated elections.
"As you recall, whenever the President was asked about the prospective appointment, the President would always say that he wanted an IT expert given the issues that had faced the commission in the past elections," she noted.
Valte said it took some time for the President to find a replacement for Ferrer because he really wanted to find the right person for the job.
She added that Aquino spent time going over the shortlist of nominees.
Lagman completed his primary and secondary educations at San Beda College and earned his mechanical engineering degree from the University of the Philippines.
He is also a certified computer professional and was awarded by the Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals in Des Moines, Illinois, USA.
Prior to his appointment, Lagman was chairman of Vinta Systems Inc., a developer of A1-oriented software products.
He also served as director of STI College Recto and Biometrix Technologies Inc., founding chairman of STI College, a former director of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), and president of Computer Associates Inc.
Asked about his stand on the use of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines in future of elections in the country, Lagman said: "My stand is very clear: that we don't use those PCOS machines again."
However, he is not totally against the modernization of elections as he is ready to listen to the opinions of his colleagues in the poll body.
Lagman believes that being an Information Technology (IT) expert has been the reason of his appointment.
"I was appointed as an IT person... That must be the reason I was put in there," he said.
He added that while he is ready to listen to other Comelec officials, he is hoping they will return the favor and also listen to his opinion.
"I would listen to them when it comes to questions on law. I hope they would listen to me when it comes to questions on technology," Lagman added.
The new Comelec official had criticized Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corporation's PCOS machines for not being transparent as required by the Poll Automation Law.
Meanwhile, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes welcomed Lagman into their fold.
The Comelec chief, on the other hand, is not worried on the new Comelec official's position against the PCOS.
"Collegial body naman ito so it (use of PCOS) will be discussed among us. No problem there," said the poll chief in a separate interview.
He noted that Lagman would be a big help to the commission particularly in the aspect of election automation, as he is an expert in IT.