CA to confirm Teves, 4 others

MANILA, Philippines – The powerful Commission on Appointments (CA) may finally confirm tomorrow the appointment of five Cabinet members of President Arroyo led by Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, the head of the House contingent in the bicameral body said yesterday.

According to Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas, acting head of the 12-member House contingent to the CA, the other officials scheduled to be confirmed are Secretaries Rolando Andaya of the Department of Budget and Management, Raul Gonzalez of the Department of Justice, Francisco Duque III of the Department of Health and Ronaldo Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

AFP chief of staff Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano may also be confirmed.

Teves and Gonzalez have waited more than three years for the CA committees to endorse their nominations.

In previous hearings, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, CA finance committee chairman, indicated that he would not endorse Teves, whom he blamed for unabated smuggling in the country and for the downgrading of the tax on one brand of cigarettes.

The downgrading was recommended by former finance undersecretary Gaudencio Mendoza and approved by Teves. Mendoza resigned when his finance boss was bypassed for the nth time before the Lenten break of Congress in March.

If Teves, Andaya, Gonzalez, Duque and Puno are finally confirmed, only a few Cabinet members’ appointments remain hanging.

These would include those of Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes and his successor at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Lito Atienza.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, who chairs the Senate energy committee, and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada are against Reyes’ confirmation.

Gullas also floated the possibility of approving the appointments of three officials of constitutional bodies, namely: former Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo as Commission on Elections chairman, Moslemen Macarambon Sr. as Comelec commissioner and Reynaldo Villar as Commission on Audit chairman.

Also set for final confirmation are Ambassadors Francisco Benedicto (to India), Noe Wong (to Cambodia), Cristina Castañer-Ponce Enrile (to the Vatican) and dozens of senior officers at the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of National Defense.

“We are hoping that the appointments of both Secretary Puno and Chairman Melo would be cleared today so that we can then endorse both of them for final confirmation the following day (June 11), when we hold our last plenary session,” Gullas said.

Today, Gullas said the foreign affairs and national defense committees of the CA are scheduled to separately hold extra hearings to screen more diplomatic and military officers so they can be confirmed tomorrow.

In a statement, Gullas said the members of Mrs. Arroyo’s official family and other officials are already assured of final confirmation during the CA’s plenary session tomorrow, a day before Congress adjourns. Session resumes on July 28.

In fact, he said the CA’s committee on the interior and local government, regional consultative commissions and regional autonomous governments is scheduled to hear and decide Puno’s appointment today.

In a separate hearing, the appointments commission committee on constitutional commissions and offices is also set to hear for the second time and resolve Melo’s appointment today.

For the past several weeks, the CA, chaired by Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. did not meet in plenary.

Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza, who is part of the 12-member House CA contingent, said he suspects that the decision not to convene the commission had something to do with the threat of Sen. Jamby Madrigal to invoke Section 20 of the CA rules on any and all appointees.

“All plenary sessions before June 11 have been scrapped. We are taking up pending Cabinet appointments and promotions in the military and diplomatic service on our last session. In effect, we will cram on that day,” he said.

Madrigal made the threat to invoke Section 20 in a letter to Villar three weeks ago.

She said she would avail of her right under the section unless her complaint about the CA membership of several of her Senate colleagues, including Enrile, Santiago and Richard Gordon, was resolved.