3 Cabinet heads to be grilled in CA confirmation hearings today

Three Cabinet members will successively undergo a grueling confirmation hearing at the Commission on Appointments starting today, as their leaders scramble to ease the opposition to their appointments.

Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho will face the CA committee on trade and industry headed by Sen. Ralph Recto for the fourth time today, while Transportation and Communications Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez will have his turn before another committee tomorrow.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez will undergo his first confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Of the three, Camacho is expected to have the most difficult time at the bicameral body. There are already reports that some leaders of the administration are using political suasion to speed up his confirmation.

Camacho had been grilled even by members of the administration coalition on his record against smuggling and on revenue collection. Today, he will be questioned by opposition Senators Edgardo Angara and Tessie Aquino-Oreta. Oreta said she has inches-thick documents on Camacho that she wants clarified.

Sen. John Osmeña, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, earlier appealed to the CA against confirming Camacho while his panel has not yet completed its investigation on CODE-NGO, a group headed by Camacho’s sister Marissa Camacho-Reyes.

The NGO netted P1.4 billion without investing anything from the issuance of peace bonds. It was granted tax-free privileges. Osmeña said committee hearings indicated Camacho even hosted a meeting on the bond issuance, contrary to claims that he took a hands-off-policy on the matter.

Meanwhile, Sen. Robert Barbers, a member of the bicameral body, said he would drum up support for the confirmation of Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez.

Alvarez is one of the only two Cabinet members from Mindanao, the other being Public Works Secretary Simeon Datumanong. Alvarez was a former congressman representing Davao del Norte.

Barbers said that members of the CA who have voiced support for the development of Mindanao, would show the worth of their word by confirming Alvarez.

"With Secretary Alvarez confirmed, we can expect the implementation of more development projects in Mindanao," he said.

Among the projects expected to be undertaken by Alvarez in Mindanao are the modernization of airports and seaports and the building of the long-delayed Mindanao railway system.

"Secretary Alvarez, being a former official of the DOTC, already knows the ins and outs of the department. His confirmation will be a boon not only for Mindanao but for the entire country," Barbers, who is from Surigao del Norte, said.

A supposedly anti-Alvarez coalition collapsed on the eve of a planned rally at the Senate meant to block his confirmation.

Felicisimo Carullo, president of the National Federation of Labor, denounced the hastily formed coalition called SCRAP for what he called duplicity in its dealings resulting in irreparable harm to the workers’ cause.

"We gave our word to Secretary Alvarez to seek solutions to our various concerns related to the NAIA-Terminal 3 operations. But insincere and sinister forces behind the coalition are pressuring the group to concentrate on blocking Alvarez’s appointment instead," Carullo said.

Environment Secretary Heherson Alvarez is also predicted to get full support at the bicameral body.

Cebu City Rep. Raul del Mar noted that most of the opposition against Alvarez centered on his projects and policies and not on his fitness and qualifications to head the department.

Alvarez was a former member of the Senate and of the CA. A congressman, who is not a member of the bicameral body, had tried to block the appointment of Alvarez after the latter fired a close relative at the DENR.