Incompetent

Today the Commission on Appointments (CA) panel hearing the confirmation case of DENR secretary-designate Regina Lopez meets in executive session. Few expect Lopez to be confirmed, considering the results of the hearings.

If Lopez is bypassed, it will be the third time for the secretary-designate. The newly adopted rule of the CA provides a maximum of three bypasses. In effect, therefore, a bypass will be tantamount to a rejection. Either President Duterte withdraws the designation of Lopez or he will risk a confrontation with the legislative branch.

Then, too, the CA could find the courage to reject Lopez’s appointment outright as it did in the case of Perfecto Yasay last week. That rejection was accepted with grace by the executive branch – as it should, respecting the independence of the Congress. An acting secretary was promptly designated to replace Yasay and that was it.

Yasay, without proof, suggested the intense grilling he received at the CA was part of a “destabilization” effort being mounted against the administration he represents. He should have rejected that misplaced suggestion.

Lopez, for her part, explicitly claimed without proof the members of the CA were bribed to the tune of P50 million each to reject her appointment. She does not deserve to survive a claim like that, which merely clinches all the other irresponsible things she said before the panel.

In the course of the hearings on her case, Lopez clearly demonstrated her incompetence to head a vital agency of government. Her use of concepts such as “watershed” areas was amazingly elastic and arbitrary. Her understanding of standards and procedures remain flimsy. 

Mining is not just an environmental issue. It is an economic and fiscal concern as well. Lopez does not grasp her role as DENR secretary. That is clear. And because of that, she is a peril at her post.

Nor does she understand her bounds. She insists her closure orders are beyond the pale of review. She does not respect perfected contracts. She reaches out to other agencies of government to become influence peddler-at-large for her friends – their dubious records notwithstanding.

 She admitted to badgering a Department of Energy official late last year to help win a service contract for a French-owned $100 million power plant. A day before the service contract was awarded, Gina Lopez and five other DENR officials left for an all-expense paid trip to France. EcoGlobal Inc. (EI), the beneficiary of the power supply contract Lopez helped secure, underwrote that trip.

In a letter to the French embassy to help secure the visas for that trip, EI president Jean-Philippe Henry assured that his company will take care of “airfare, hotel accommodations, insurance coverage, and travel allowances for the entire duration of their business trip.” This may be considered a violation of the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

A few weeks ago, the Ombudsman haled to court former directors of Pagcor for doing exactly the same thing: accepting an all expenses paid trip from a private firm benefitting from a government contract. That is a clear precedent.

According to news reports, Henry faces a string of criminal cases here. This includes falsification of a memorandum of agreement signed with a prominent businesswoman intended to mislead the DOE by making it appear that EI is a 60 percent Filipino-owned company. Businesswoman Mercedes Zobel has filed a falsification complaint against Henry and compatriot Jean Yves Rovani for forging her initials in official documents.

Based on the internal company communications of EI, Henry was in constant touch with Lopez as they sorted out their issues with the DOE regarding their $100 million Zamboanga power investment. Lopez, without informing Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, constantly badgered DOE renewable energy director Mario Marasigan to grant EI the power supply contract.

EcoGlobal Foundation Inc. (EFI) was founded by Henry to source funds from a French state company to build a bamboo waste water facility for the Urdaneta City University. The Filipino trustees of this foundation ousted Henry when they found out the Frenchman was withdrawing substantial amounts from the grant for his own use. A complaint for qualified theft is now with the NBI.

Henry sat beside Lopez during her press conference last Feb. 27. During this event, she announced French participation in the Pasig River cleanup project. Even if Lopez somehow avoids getting jailed for graft, her judgment in associating with a character like Henry puts a question mark on her choice of friends.

After the Filipino trustees ousted Henry as chair of EFI, Lopez wrote the trustees a letter expressing displeasure over her friend’s removal. Throughout the period when she was badgering DOE director Marasigan, Lopez constantly kept Henry abreast of developments regarding his case. Henry, in turn, constantly thanked Lopez for her efforts in helping the company.

During the confirmation hearings, groups opposing Lopez cited many instances of the secretary-designate skirting around the procedures to get her way. All the NGOs working to safeguard Palawan’s environment, after initially supporting Lopez, withdrew their support en masse after she entered into agreements without consultation. People from the communities dependent on the mining industry recounted how, during her visits to the mining sites, conferred only with anti-mining activists and not them.

In Lopez’s magical world, she thinks she could close down the mines today and provide alternative livelihood for the affected communities tomorrow. That is not how the real world works.

She is not brave, as some of her supporters would rather paint her. She is simply prone to avoiding the facts and believing what she chooses to believe in. That is dangerous.