CA likely to bypass Teves anew

MANILA, Philippines – The powerful Commission on Appointments, which holds its last plenary session today before Congress goes on its five-week Lenten recess this weekend, will most likely bypass Finance Secretary Margarito Teves again.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, a member of the House contingent in the CA, yesterday said Teves’ appointment is still pending in the finance committee chaired by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.

“It will not be up for discussion in plenary. The only Cabinet appointment in the agenda for tomorrow’s session is that of Health Secretary (Francisco) Duque, who will most likely be confirmed,” Albano said.

He said the fate of Teves “lies in the hands of Sen. Enrile.”

Albano said he and some members of the House contingent “want to support Secretary Teves, he being a former congressman.”

“But we will defer to the decision of Sen. Enrile since he is the committee chairman and he, like us, belongs to the pro-administration majority,” he said.

For the previous hearings, Teves underwent intense and sometimes hostile grilling from Enrile, leading lawmakers to think that the Marcos regime defense minister is not disposed to recommend the former’s confirmation.

Teves’ father, former Negros Oriental congressman Herminio Teves, had urged his son to already give up his Cabinet post.

According to Rep. Joel Villanueva of the party-list group Citizens Battle Against Corruption, the only opposition congressman sitting in the CA, Enrile and other administration allies in the commission want Teves’ appointment rejected.

He said Senators Enrile and Richard Gordon have subjected the beleaguered finance secretary to indignities and ridicule.

“They wanted to find out who are the prominent personalities involved in oil and car smuggling in Subic and other parts of the country. Secretary Teves could not provide them the answers. I could sympathize with him, because those involved are prominent personalities related or close to the tenants of Malacañang,” he said.

Villanueva said another administration ally, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, has criticized Teves for the recent privatization of the Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. which has brought in more than P50 billion for the national treasury.

Villanueva revealed that in the last CA meeting, Gordon asked him to move for the rejection of Teves.

“I could not do it because I also want to ask him questions about smuggling and his father’s accusation that some CA members in the previous Congress had demanded P5 million and numerous favors from him in exchange for his confirmation,” he said.