CA leader pushes 3-strike rule on Cabinet appointees

MANILA, Philippines - After seeing three Cabinet members wait for four years for their appointment to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointments, a CA member is now pushing for what he calls a “3-strike rule” on Cabinet appointees.

“I will push for this rule. I will submit it as an amendment to the rules of the commission when we convene again,” Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, the CA majority leader, told reporters yesterday.

Under his proposal, a Cabinet member who has been bypassed three times by the appointments commission should be voted in a plenary for confirmation or rejection.

A Cabinet nominee is bypassed if the CA does not confirm him before a scheduled adjournment or a break in the session of Congress. Most bypassed nominees under the present administration were reappointed by President Aquino.

Fariñas said it is not fair for a Cabinet official to wait for years to be confirmed just because one or two CA members are opposed to his or her appointment. It is also not fair to the appointing power, he said.

The Cabinet members who waited four years for their confirmation were Leila de Lima of justice, Corazon Soliman of social welfare and development and Ramon Paje of environment and natural resources.

Commissioner Heidi Mendoza of the Commission on Audit had to wait for more than two years for her confirmation.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, another congressman-member of the appointments commission, said he would support Fariñas’ proposal.

“But as a complementary measure, we should also amend the rules to provide that after three bypassing, Section 20 can no longer be invoked, so that a member who is opposed to a Cabinet nominee can avail himself or herself of his or her right under this section only before three adjournments,” he said.

Section 20 gives any CA member the absolute right to ask for the deferment of a vote on any nominee. Such member is not required to give any reason for invoking the section, which cannot be used during the last plenary session of the commission before the June annual adjournment of Congress.

Albano said if this provision remains as written, a member could still use it to block a nominee even after the latter has been bypassed three times.

“This means that we cannot vote on the nominee after three bypasses. We can only vote on him or her after one year before the June adjournment of every regular session. It will defeat the purpose of the proposal of Manong Rudy,” he said, referring to Fariñas.

Another congressman sitting in the CA, Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro, said he would also vote for the Fariñas proposal.

“In fact, I had filed a bill in the House requiring that Cabinet appointees be voted on after three or four bypasses. The purpose is to give the President the opportunity to name replacements if his appointees are not acceptable to the Commission on Appointments,” he said.

He said the commission rarely votes to reject an appointee.