DOJ chief, 4 other Cabinet members to get CA nod

The Commission on Appointments (CA) will confirm five Cabinet members before Congress goes on Christmas recess next week, Davao City Rep. Prospero Nograles said yesterday.

“My prediction is that Secretaries Esperanza Cabral of Social Welfare, Peter Favila of Trade, Gilbert Teodoro Jr. of Defense, Raul Gonzalez of Justice and Rolando Andaya Jr. of Budget will be confirmed,” he said.

“Yuletide cheer for these Cabinet officials shall come in the form of a confirmation,” Nograles said.

Nograles heads the 12-member House contingent in the CA.

Nograles said that he based his prediction on the hearings conducted by the CA on the ad-interim appointments of the five Cabinet officials.

As head of the House CA panel, Nograles said he has taken the position to either confirm or reject the appointment of the five Cabinet secretaries.

He pointed out that the move to confirm the appointments of the five Cabinet secretaries is also to avoid the usual delays in the congressional screening process of those who are subject for confirmation.

His “wish list,” however, does not include Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, who has been waiting for his confirmation since joining President Arroyo’s Cabinet more than two years ago.

According to House sources, Nograles and his colleagues are still “angry” over the revelations made by Teves and his father, former Negros Oriental congressman Herminio Teves, before the 14th Congress convened last July 23.

The elder Teves had accused some members of the House CA panel in the previous Congress of demanding P5 million from Cabinet members, including his son, in exchange for their confirmation.

Secretary Teves, for his part, said what the congressmen personally relayed to him were “requests in kind – specifically appointments for relatives and friends in the Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Internal Revenue.”

Former Surigao del Sur congressman Prospero Pichay Jr., who headed the House CA team in the 13th Congress, denied they demanded money from Cabinet members, though he admitted to discussing their and other congressmen’s “concerns” with Teves.

Pichay said among his colleagues who had concerns with Teves was Nograles, who was not a CA member then.

Nograles, who was House majority leader in the last Congress, said he did not know what Pichay was talking about.

He said he had no request from Teves but that he recommended constituents and friends for employment directly to Customs and Internal Revenue (BIR) officials.

The CA finance committee chaired by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile has endorsed the confirmation of the finance secretary.

Asked why Teves is not included in his confirmation list, Nograles said some members of his panel want the finance chief to answer questions about the raging quarrel of big cigarette manufacturers on taxation for certain high-end tobacco products.

Informed that the House ways and means committee is looking into the same issue, Nograles said he could not stop his members from raising it in the CA.