Fate of two Alvarezes still hangs at CA

The fate of the two Alvarezes in President Arroyo’s Cabinet still hangs despite the fact that the year-long first regular session of Congress is now on its homestretch.

"It’s still touch-and-go for Bebot and Sonny," Rep. Raul del Mar (Promdi, Cebu City), a member of the bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA), told The STAR yesterday.

He was referring to Secretary Pantaleon "Bebot" Alvarez of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and Secretary Heherson "Sonny" Alvarez of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

"Photo-finish sila, since Congress now has only three weeks of sessions to go and we in the commission will have three last meetings before we adjourn on June 6," said Del Mar, who sits in the two panels tackling the confirmation of the two Alvarezes.

He said the CA has scheduled two more hearings for the DENR secretary and three more for DOTC’s Alvarez.

"There are now fewer (critics) against Sonny Alvarez than there are against Bebot. We expect to finish Sonny’s case this week or next week," he said.

Alvarez of the DENR is secretary general of the administration party, Lakas-NUCD-UMDP, whose chairmanship has passed on to President Arroyo from Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

De Venecia and other party leaders feel that the CA, which is dominated by pro-administration lawmakers, should confirm their secretary general as his rejection would put them and their party in a bad light.

They are thus throwing the full weight of the ruling party behind Alvarez. The Speaker has been talking to several Alvarez critics in the House out of opposing the DENR secretary’s confirmation.

Alvarez was a congressman in the last Congress. He was the first initiator of the impeachment complaint against then President Joseph Estrada.

The environment secretary is set to confront tomorrow the final hurdle to his confirmation — the influential pro-commercial fishing bloc — in a proceeding that could reveal the real reason why his confirmation has been delayed for so long.

The big fishermen have been fiercely opposing Alvarez’s confirmation in a long-drawn campaign aimed more at thwarting the full implementation of the pro-poor Department Administrative Order No. 17, a statement from the DENR office said yesterday.

DAO-17 is an Alvarez directive that extends the limits of the country’s municipal waters to 15 kilometers from the shoreline out to the sea.

The big fishermen complained that the full implementation of DAO-17 deprives them of use of Philippine inner waters where they have been traditionally operating, in effect taking away their main source of income.

But Alvarez countered that it is not the intention of DAO-17 to ruin the business operations of big fishermen, rather seeks to establish a "win-win" solution for both rich and poor fishermen and the eventual modernization of the country’s fishing industry.

Asked how he would vote on the confirmation of the two Alvarezes, Del Mar said he was not about to reveal his vote.

However, he said he and his CA colleagues have agreed to respect the President’s choice of her Cabinet members "unless there are serious questions about their integrity."

As for the hearings on DOTC’s Alvarez, Del Mar said these could stretch up to the last week of the congressional session.

He said the CA still has not heard several witnesses it subpoenaed to shed light on the controversial $500-million Philippine International Air Terminals Co., Inc. (Piatco) contract covering Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

He said those invited to testify on the deal were Gloria Tan-Climaco, presidential adviser for strategic projects, and $200,000-a-month Piatco consultant Alfonso Liongson.

The fat Liongson consultancy contract was exposed in the House two weeks ago by Minority Leader Carlos Padilla (LDP, Nueva Vizcaya).

Padilla said Liongson, who has billed Piatco more than $1 million for his services, was just a conduit for powerful administration officials who are in a position to do the job and deliver the concessions he was hired for.