CA likely to confirm Soliman, says lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines - Barring any last-minute hitch, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman may win confirmation from the Commission on Appointments (CA) next week after four years of waiting, despite the objection of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

“We will most likely confirm her, because of the four Cabinet members awaiting confirmation, she’s the only one recommended by the concerned committee. I will vote for her and her other Cabinet colleagues,” Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, a CA member, said yesterday.

Santiago has vowed to block Soliman’s confirmation, but Albano said since it would be the last CA session on Wednesday before the annual adjournment of Congress, Santiago could no longer invoke Section 20 of the commission’s rules.

“She can ventilate her objection, but the appointment will have to be put to a vote,” he said.

Section 20 gives any CA member an absolute right to oppose any appointment. When the section is invoked, the CA presiding officer has no choice but to defer consideration of the appointment.

However, to give the CA the opportunity to judge the appointee through a vote, Section 20 cannot be invoked during the commission’s last session before the annual June adjournment of Congress.

Last Tuesday, the CA committee on labor and employment and social welfare chaired by Rep. Conrado Estrella III of party-list group Abono voted to endorse the approval of Soliman’s appointment.

The three other Cabinet members who still have to go through the CA wringer are Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje and Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla.

CA committees held hearings on De Lima and Paje last Wednesday but failed to recommend their confirmation. Hearings will be held again next week.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, who is CA majority leader, said if the committees endorse De Lima and Paje, their appointments would be taken up in the last CA plenary session on Wednesday.

“In all likelihood, they will win confirmation, if there are committee endorsements,” he said.

In the case of Petilla, his CA and Senate critic, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, who chairs the appointments body’s energy committee, has said he would not schedule a hearing on the energy secretary.

This means that the committee and the commission proper will not tackle Petilla’s appointment until next weekend’s adjournment.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who sits in the commission, has vowed to block Petilla “because he failed to solve the electricity shortage problem in Mindanao.”

Also awaiting confirmation is Heidi Mendoza, who was appointed commissioner of the Commission on Audit in April 2011.

Senators identified with Vice President Jejomar Binay are giving her a hard time. Binay once blamed Mendoza for the adverse audit reports on him and his wife Elenita when they alternately led Makati as mayor.

Binay’s wife is facing a graft case before the Sandiganbayan in connection with an allegedly anomalous purchase by the Makati city government.