Makabayan lawmakers condemn Taguiwalo rejection
August 16, 2017 | 7:36am
President Rodrigo Duterte chats with leftist Cabinet members (from left) National Anti-Poverty Commission head Liza Maza, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano and Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo before a Cabinet meeting in Malacañang in February. PPD/Released, file
MANILA, Philippines — Progressive party-list groups on Wednesday said they condemned the congressional Commission on Appointment's failure to confirm the Judy Taguiwalo as Social Welfare secretary.
"I am outraged by the CA's rejection of [Department of Social Welfare and Development] Secretary Judy Taguiwalo," Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said on his Twitter account. He said the Duterte administration "lost a very competent and dedicated official" with Taguiwalo's rejection.
Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao called Taguiwalo's rejection a disservice to the poor.
"The rejection of Ma'am Judy is a blatant proof that pro-reform officials will not be tolerated by institutions of traditional politics, hence is causal of poverty and misery to the people," he said in a statement.
Kabataan party-list, a member of the Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives along with Bayan Muna, Gabriela, AnakPawis and ACT Teachers, also condemned the rejection, calling it a "victory for the corrupt bureaucracy, neoliberals in the regime and the de facto military junta and their US masters."
National democrats believe that imperialism, particularly by the US, is among the causes of poverty in the Philippines.
"Duterte could have easily swayed his supermajority in the Senate and Congress to push for [Taguiwalo's] confirmation," Kabataan said in an online statement.
The party-list claimed that Taguiwalo's "defiance of pork barrel, bureaucrat capitalism and patronage politics" earned her the ire of members of Congress, "who wish to milk the DSWD's funds for themselves."
LOOK: @KabataanPL statement on the rejection of Taguiwalo's appointment as DSWD secretary pic.twitter.com/z6V0qvqb4O
— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) August 16, 2017
Kabataan said the rejection did not come as a surprise, saying President Rodrigo Duterte has "turned his back on promises of significant reforms and change to the Filipino people."
Gabriela party-list has yet to issue a statement as of this post but had representatives outside the Senate, where the CA holds hearings, on Wednesday afternoon.
In May, when the CA rejected Gina Lopez's appointment as Environment chief, President Rodrigo Duterte said he "does not control everything."
He said the that "the president appoints, but the appointee has to undergo scrutiny of the Commission on Appointments." — Jonathan de Santos
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