An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday said Commissioner Socorro Inting will take over as acting chair of the poll body come February 3, unless President Rodrigo R. Duterte appoints a new chief.

“Commissioner Socorro Inting, most senior Comm on Feb 3, will be Acting Chair @COMELEC while PRRD has not appointed a Chair,” Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said in a Twitter post.

Guanzon was reacting to the tweet of former Commissioner Luie Guia.

“Just wondering who’d the President appoint as @COMELEC Chair after Chair (Sheriff) Abas retire on February 2, 2022. Or would he still appoint one? Comms (Antonio) Kho and @rowena_guanzon are also retiring on the same day,” Guia said.

Once Abas, Guanzon and Kho retire on February 2, the poll body will only be composed of four Commissioners — Inting, Marlon Casquejo, Aimee Ferolino and Rey Bulay, all of whom are Duterte appointees.

Abas and Guanzon were appointed as commissioners by the late former president Benigno Simeon Aquino III in 2015.

In 2017, Duterte named Abas as head of the poll body, replacing Andres Bautista who resigned from the post.

Kho, a former Department of Justice undersecretary, was appointed by Duterte to the poll body in 2018. (PNA)