De Lima, Soliman, Paje confirmed after 4 years

MANILA, Philippines - Four years after being appointed, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje finally secured their confirmations from the Commission on Appointments (CA).

Soliman and Paje were earlier endorsed for confirmation in plenary, while De Lima hurdled her hearing yesterday, the last session day of Congress in its first regular session.

De Lima had to go through another round of questioning by Senator Jinggoy Estrada, one of three senators that the National Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice have charged with plunder in connection with the pork barrel scam.

The DOJ and NBI also filed before the ombudsman plunder charges against Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon Revilla Jr. for alleged misuse of the pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund of lawmakers.

Also charged with plunder was alleged pork scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

The Office of the Ombudsman had formally filed the plunder charges at the Sandiganbayan.

However, unlike her hearing last week, De Lima was merely asked some legal questions about the processes of the Bureau of Immigration and the status of the Malampaya Fund scam investigation.

After concluding his questions, Estrada gave way to the endorsement of De Lima for confirmation by the CA.

Interviewed by reporters after her confirmation hearing, De Lima said that she was happy about finally hurdling this constitutional process.

In addition to the three Cabinet members, the CA also confirmed the appointments of Commission on Audit commissioners Heidi Mendoza and Jose Fabia.

Mendoza, who was previously an auditor of the COA, was appointed as commissioner in 2011.

However, Estrada questioned her fitness to serve in her current position and blocked her confirmation. He tried to stand in the way of Mendoza’s confirmation again but this time around, the majority of the CA members voted to get her confirmed.

The same was true for Paje and Soliman, whose appointments were questioned by Senators Sergio Osmeña III and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, but their objections were set aside because of the overwhelming endorsement by the majority of the CA members.

With the confirmation of the three Cabinet members, only Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla is left unconfirmed by the CA.

Petilla, who was appointed in 2012, was never scheduled by the CA for his confirmation hearing because of the objections of Osmeña.

Osmeña, who heads the committee on energy of the CA which has jurisdiction over the appointment of Petilla, has criticized him as an ineffective energy secretary.

Now that Congress has adjourned, Petilla is effectively bypassed and would have to be issued new appointment papers by the President in order for him to continue serving as energy secretary. – With Paolo Romero