Palace sends Angara appointment to CA

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang has submitted the appointment of Education Secretary Sonny Angara for confirmation to the Commission on Appointments (CA), the body that can approve or reject the President’s designation of officials to key posts.

Angara, who replaced Vice President Sara Duterte as chief of the Department of Education (DepEd), assumed his post last week.

Since Angara is a head of an executive department, his appointment needs to be confirmed by the CA.

Asked by The STAR if Angara’s appointment has been sent to the commission, whose members include his former colleagues in the Senate, Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil replied in the affirmative.

Angara’s ad interim appointment was issued last July 19. The CA received his nomination last July 22, a document posted on the CA’s website showed.

An ad interim appointment takes effect immediately. It ceases to be valid upon disapproval by the CA or, if not confirmed, until the next adjournment of Congress, according to the commission’s website.

The Constitution requires the CA to act on all appointments submitted to it within 30 session days of Congress from their submission.

Before joining the Marcos Cabinet, Angara was the representative of Aurora province from 2004 to 2013 and a senator from 2013 to middle of this month.

Measures that Angara authored as a lawmaker include the Free College Education law, Universal Healthcare Act, Expanded Public Employment Service Office Act, Kasambahay Law, Expanded Senior Citizens Act and New Government Procurement Act.

After administering Angara’s oath last July 19, President Marcos expressed optimism that many “good things” will happen in the DepEd under its new secretary.

Duterte stepped down as education secretary and National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict vice chairperson last month following a series of events that reflected the deteriorating relations between her family and the Marcoses.

She has not provided specifics on why she quit the Marcos Cabinet, merely saying that her resignation was a “long story” that involved personal, work and nation-related issues.

The CA, which is composed of the Senate president as ex officio chairman, 12 senators and 12 members of the House of Representatives, acts as a restraint against abuse of the appointing authority to protect public interest.

Aside from heads of executive departments, other officials whose appointees require the CA’s nod are ambassadors; other public ministers and consuls; officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain; chairpersons and members of constitutional commissions, such as the Commission on Elections, Commission on Audit and Civil Service Commission; and regular members of the Judicial and Bar Council.