CA to ask NBI to probe Cabinet men

No more sweetheart confirmations by the Commission on Appointments (CA).

Sen. Blas Ople said yesterday the powerful CA will ask the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to conduct a thorough background investigation on presidential nominees to Cabinet positions and other sensitive posts in the government.

"We will not be limited to the self-serving data submitted by the nominees. We hope the NBI can match the thoroughness with which the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US checks the background of top nominees for confirmation in the Senate," Ople said.

He asserted that the NBI has done such function in the past, but failed to submit detailed and comprehensive reports.

Ople has been a member of the CA since 1992, and was expected to head the bicameral body’s committee on foreign affairs that reviews the qualifications of appointees to diplomatic posts, including ambassadors, public ministers and consuls.

Ople has questioned President Arroyo’s appointment of businessman Alberto del Rosario as ambassador to Washington, saying such nominees should have good stature.

Rumors were also rife that former Transportation and Communications Secretary Josefina Lichauco will be designated as permanent representative to the United Nations headquarters in New York.

If ever, Del Rosario will replace former Sen. Ernesto Maceda while Lichauco will succeed retired Ambassador Felipe Mabilangan, a career diplomat.

"The posts of Philippine ambassador to the United States in Washington and the United Nations in New York will engage the full attention of the bicameral commission on Appointments upon its reorganization in August," Ople said.

"We would have to know why we are sending non-entities to hold these pivotal posts at a critical time in our foreign affairs," Ople added.

Ople, former chairman of the Senate foreign affairs committee, said Manila should reciprocate Washington’s practice of appointing "men of stature" as ambassador to the Philippines.

"I’d like to discover some compensating virtues for this curious and ineffectual policy. We are not, of course, prejudging anyone. But the prospective ambassadors to the US and the UN should brace for some tough questions about their qualifications and the merit of their nominations," he said. – Aurea Calica