Enrile removed from powerful Commission on Appointments

The split in the minority bloc of the Senate became final yesterday as senators voted to remove their colleague Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile from the Commission on Appointments.

In a surprise move made during the regular session yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. announced that the minority bloc had decided to remove Enrile as one of their representatives on the powerful commission.

According to Pimentel, the decision was made during a caucus of the minority last Monday, in which seven of the nine members were present.

Pimentel said those at the meeting — Panfilo Lacson, Sergio Osmeña III, Alfredo Lim, Jinggoy Estrada, Jamby Madrigal, Loi Estrada and himself — unanimously agreed to the decision. Senators Edgardo Angara and Enrile were not present.

The decision was final and yesterday’s announcement during the session was only a formality, Pimentel said.

There was no need for the minority to inform Enrile about the decision before it was announced because his actions in the past days had already ostracized him from the minority.

Osmeña said the decision was made following Enrile’s alleged sponsoring of administration appointees before the CA without raising appropriate objections, as would be expected from a member of the political opposition.

At the height of deliberations on the contentious value-added tax bill, Enrile announced that he no longer recognized Pimentel’s leadership but insisted he was still part of the political opposition.

Osmeña said the last straw was when Enrile supposedly railroaded the confirmation process of Environment Secretary Michael Defensor last week, in spite of the long list of opponents, including Madrigal, who were not given a chance to air their opposition at the hearings.

Angara, the lone member of the minority who defended Enrile, was also criticized by Osmeña for pretending to be a member of the minority.

"He has never attended a single minority caucus during the time when he was busy waltzing with Gloria," Osmeña said, referring to President Arroyo.

Enrile, for his part, said the Constitution provides that membership in the CA shall be determined by party affiliation and not the majority or minority bloc in Congress.

As chairman of the Partido ng Masang Pilipino of former President Joseph Estrada, Enrile said he had more right to be on the commission than some members of the chamber who do not belong to any political party.

However, Osmeña pointed out that since the Eighth Congress, the Senate had been determining the composition of the committees through majority-minority affiliation in spite of the constitutional rule.

Angara said the "sneak attack" made by his colleagues in the minority would set a bad precedent and that this matter should be threshed out among themselves.