They relieved Ferdinand Rafanan AGAIN?!?

Ferdinand Rafanan, one of the more competent COMELEC commissioners around, has been relieved of his post AGAIN by COMELEC Chairman Ben Abalos for "insubordination". Something's fishy here... maybe because malapit na naman ulit ang election, and Director Rafanan is not somebody the operators at the COMELEC can control?

From PCIJ: he was one of the more vocal people demanding punishment for the guilty COMELEC operators and reforms after GLORIAGATE became public.

“We should demand punishment from top to bottom,” says Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan, Comelec director for the National Capital Region.”We’re nurturing the wrong culture in the Comelec. It’s a wrong response to cover up for these people. This is a question of the president committing a crime or undermining the independence of the Comelec.”

The Comelec official even wonders why Pres. Arroyo, at the onset of the controversy, has not called for an investigation of the poll body, at the very least Garcillano, inspite of her denials that she was not party to the electoral fraud. Arroyo’s continued inaction, in his view, borders on an impeachable offense — betrayal of the public trust.

He was also the only COMELEC official who raised concerns about Arroyo's People's Initiative.

And he was right, because P.I. was exposed as a A Gigantic Fraud perpetrated on the public

Pero galit ang COMELEC sa kanya for speaking out against it.

And among the COMELEC people who went to Arroyo's La Vista residence, isa siya sa mga hindi naimbita.

Comelec National Capital Region Director Ferdinand Rafanan, who was reportedly not invited to the meeting, said in an affidavit that he had heard about the alleged "bigayan" (giving) in La Vista and that "the one who told me about it was a 'highly reliable source'."

Rafanan said in his affidavit executed on Friday that he had been asked by media people if he believed the incident happened.

"I said that although I believe my source, I still want it investigated since it was still just hearsay to me," said Rafanan, who was regional director of Eastern Visayas in last year's elections.