Bill seeks to limit Cabinet reappointments

MANILA, Philippines - Two Mindanao lawmakers want a limit on the reappointment of Cabinet members and military and diplomatic officers who are bypassed by the Commission on Appointments (CA).

Apparently, Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and his brother Maximo, representative of the party-list group Abante Mindanao, do not want a repeat of the case of former Arroyo Cabinet member Angelo Reyes.

Then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo moved Reyes from one department to another.

He was first assigned at the Department of National Defense (DND) then transferred to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) before being moved to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and subsequently to the Department of Energy (DOE).

Reyes hurdled the CA confirmation during his DND and DILG stints, but was repeatedly bypassed during his watch at the DENR and the DOE.

In Bill 1647, the Rodriguez brothers said the CA is usually reluctant to reject outright certain Cabinet appointees.

Hence, the commission resorts to bypassing them, meaning it does not approve their appointments while Congress is in session, to express its displeasure over the appointees, they said.

“However, despite such bypass, the president would reappoint the same nominees. This practice of simply reappointing the nominees even after several bypasses subverts the principle of confirmation mandated by the Constitution,” they said.

“Further, this situation makes a mockery of the constitutional duties of the Commission on Appointments to confirm and reject presidential appointees on the basis of the check and balance powers of the legislative branch of government,” they added.

Under Bill 1647, Cabinet appointees and senior military and diplomatic officers subject to the CA process should submit the required documents to the commission within 30 days from receipt of their appointment or promotion papers.

Failure to do so would result in one bypass. Failure to submit the documents within 60 days would cause the disapproval of the appointment or promotion.

Appointees and senior military and diplomatic officers bypassed twice would no longer be eligible for reappointment by the president.

Those who are denied confirmation by a vote of the commission would also be ineligible for reappointment.

Besides Reyes, other members of the Arroyo Cabinet failed to win confirmation or waited for years for CA approval of their appointments. In some cases, the long wait had nothing to do with the appointee’s fitness or lack of it to hold a Cabinet job.

Former finance secretary Margarito Teves had to wait for more than two years for his confirmation.

In 2007, as a Negros Oriental congressman, Teves’ father Herminio accused some colleagues in the House who were CA members of allegedly trying to extort P5 million from his son in exchange for his confirmation.

He said his colleagues, whom he did not identify, also wanted other concessions from his son, including appointments in the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs for their relatives and friends. 

In the case of the members of President Aquino’s Cabinet, Mr. Aquino has said he expects them to handily win confirmation from the CA.

Officials subject to confirmation are heads of executive departments, diplomatic officers from the rank of consul and military officers from the rank of colonel or naval captain.

Members of constitutional bodies like the Commission on Elections and Commission on Audit are also subject to the CA process.