Senga technically bypassed by CA

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Generoso Senga will be technically bypassed by the Commission on Appointments (CA), which will hear the confirmation of several other top military officers today, the last day of plenary session for this year.

Senga informed the Senate President Franklin Drilon that he will not be able to attend today’s afternoon session because he will be attending his son’s wedding.

In a lunch meeting at the Senate, Drilon said the CA cannot accommodate Senga’s request to conduct the confirmation hearings earlier at 10 a.m. because the CA committee on foreign relations will have to review this morning the confirmation of outgoing Presidential Management Staff chief Rigoberto Tiglao as the next ambassador to Greece.

"We agreed to defer his confirmation to January when the CA comes back, but in the course of our meeting, I asked him pointblank if the military is in fact conducting an investigation" into allegations that the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) conducted unauthorized wiretapping activities, Drilon said.

Drilon said Senga will have to answer questions raised by senators when he returns for his confirmation next year regarding the allegations hurled by Marietta Santos, the alleged ex-girlfriend of T/Sgt. Vidal Doble, that the ISAFP wiretapped conversations between President Arroyo and then elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

"He will be bypassed… but come January, he will be asked to answer (queries regarding the Garci tapes)," Drilon said during a press conference that followed his private lunch meeting with Senga at his Senate office.

Senga’s confirmation hangs in the balance after the Senate expressed disappointment over what appears to be a breach in security at the ISAFP following Santos’ testimony at the Senate last week. She had claimed that she was allowed to freely roam the ISAFP compound when Doble was assigned there. — Christina Mendez