PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III appointed on Monday a 37-year-old lawyer and a 61-
year-old state auditor as commissioners of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Civil
Service Commission (CSC), respectively.
Christian Robert Lim, who was a member of the Bantay Balota group of then presidential
candidate Aquino and his running mate Sen. Mar Roxas, was designated Comelec
commissioner, replacing Gregorio Larrazabal, who retired in early February.
Lim served as an associate of the Carpio, Villaraza and Cruz Law Offices, popularly known
as The Firm, from 1998 to 2000, and was endorsed by former Special Prosecutor Dennis
Villa Ignacio, an ally and former subordinate of the law office’s senior partner Simeon
Marcelo.
He also served as private prosecutor in the plunder case against deposed President Joseph
Estrada, as well as in the murder charges leveled against Sen. Panfilo Lacson. At present,
he is a managing partner at Lim & Leynes Law Offices.
Rasol Lamping Mitmug, Commission on Audit director for Region 11 based in Davao City,
was appointed CSC commissioner in place of Cesar Buenaflor, who also once served as
commissioner of the defunct Presidential Anti-Graft Commission under former President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Mitmug counted as references former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. and his senator-
son Teofisto III, former Senate President Jovito Salonga, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad
and Samar Rep. Raul Daza, a Liberal Party stalwart.
Both Lim’s and Mitmug’s fixed seven-year terms will end on Feb. 2, 2018. (PIA)