One of the people who restored my faith in the COMELEC is James Jimenez. After the Comelec’s reputation was literally driven to the ground by Benjamin Abalos, I was cynical that I’d ever change my opinon of the Comelec as a corrupt and incompetent institution. That did change though and James was instrumental in the shift. My first encounter with this guy was way back in iBlog 5. He was one of the speakers and I took the mic to ask him a question about the annoying commercials of Bayani Fernando which aired during the Star Trek movie in Eastwood. While I didn’t like his answer too much, I found him to be a very sincere and genuine fellow.
Fast forward a year later
I wrote at entry on my political blog, Juan Country, about the Comelec secrecy folder issue. I wrote about some questions I had for him in a very harsh manner. I never really expected the guy to respond but he did. And he didn’t just give me “automated” answers. He really took time in answering all of my queries. When I replied, he talked back.
James is also very active on Twitter where he keeps everyone updated on the latest news about the Automated Elections. I’ve seen him answer a few queries online and I don’t think I have the same level of patience as this guy has when it comes to interfacing with constituents.
Yesterday, I saw that he started a wordpress blog to write about the elections and to answer the letters, emails, and inquiries he’s been getting. You might want to check that blog out. It’s nothing fancy but it does the job.
So let me just honor and commend James for his dedication, effort, and hard work. As a “netizen”, I really do appreciate everything you’ve done and I wish you the very best. Cheers!
Thanks for the article. Most people dont really see how Mr Jimenez really did a good job. His honesty and his openness helped boost my confidence that the system is changing.