Railroading the CA Avenue

Before the 15th Congress adjourned last week for their month-long recess, four Cabinet men of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III successfully hurdled their confirmation at the Commission on Appointments (CA). They were Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim; Bro.Armin Luistro as Education Secretary; Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala; and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio Singson.

The President has a total of 22 Cabinet men and women, led by Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa, who are subject to CA confirmation. Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras would have been the fifth to get CA nod.

But for a strange twist of his confirmation, the CA deferred action on his appointment until January next year when both chambers of Congress resume session. Thus, the nominations of Almendras and his fellow Cabinet members remain pending at the CA. They are considered technically bypassed.

Save for two Cabinet officials who remain in “acting” capacity in their respective posts, their names were not submitted to the CA for confirmation. They are Jessie Robredo as Interior and Local Government Secretary and Ramon Paje as Environment and Natural Resources Secretary.

Under Article 8, Section 16 of our 1987 Constitution, it mandates the CA to give its consent to, or confirm the nominations submitted by the President. If for any reason, the Commission fails to act, or willfully rejects the nomination or appointment of the Cabinet men concerned, the nomination or appointment is considered bypassed.

There are two kinds of bypassed appointments. One is a “technical” bypass when CA adjourns and defers acting on the nomination at the committee level due to lack of time. The other is bypassed by the plenary when the sub-committee has already recommended the nominee for confirmation by the entire body but is blocked by one member. Any member for any reason, or even for no reason at all, may invoke Section 20 of the CA rules at the last day of their plenary to block the confirmation of the nominee.

To date, Congress had gone on recess for only twice this year. The first was in November for the All Saints Day break when there was no one yet in the Aquino Cabinet who went through the CA confirmation process. So effectively, none yet of the President’s Cabinet members has been bypassed by the CA plenary even as they adjourned for Christmas recess.

Nonetheless, the Chief Executive has to issue new interim appointments to his bypassed Cabinet officials to legalize their continued stay and discharge of functions in their respective line departments. Today, Malacañang Palace should have transmitted to the CA Secretariat the new ad interim appointments of these Cabinet officials and other bypassed Presidential appointees subject to confirmation.

There are renewed proposed legislations to stop the Presidential practice to re-submit to CA the nominations of Cabinet appointees and other nominees who have been bypassed several times by the confirmation body. Bills to this effect have been filed anew in the 15th Congress.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago is pushing for the passage of a law to ban the reappointment of bypassed Presidential appointees. In Santiago’s Senate Bill 2499, she proposed that nominees of the President who have been bypassed for three consecutive times by the CA should be declared ineligible for re-appointment nor can they be named to any position provided under the Constitution.

Santiago said this would ensure that the system of check and balance between the executive and legislative remains intact. She noted the practice by the previous administrations where several nominees of the President were re-appointed or appointed to new positions after being bypassed by the CA.

At the House of Representatives, two Mindanao lawmakers proposed also a legislation to limit the re-appointment of Cabinet members and military and diplomatic officers who are bypassed by the CA. Reps. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and his brother Maximo, representative of the party-list group Abante Mindanao, re-filed this measure under House Bill 1647.

Whether these twin proposed bills at the Senate and the House would move in the legislative mills remain to be seen.

Of the four Aquino Cabinet appointees who were confirmed by the CA in its last plenary session for this year, it was the DPWH Secretary who breezed through the gauntlet for a record speed of just 20 minutes of committee hearing.

Senator Edgardo Angara described Singson as a “patriot” for reasons that escaped me. Former DPWH Secretary now Rep. Simeon Datumanong, a member of the House minority bloc at the CA, admitted he was very impressed by the background of Singson.

The speedy confirmation of Singson’s appointment came after both the Senate and the House have ratified the proposed General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2011. Singson holds the key to public works and other infrastructure projects under the DPWH budget for next year. So Singson is the right man at the DPWH as far as the lawmakers’ pork-barrel is concerned.

But hopefully, the DPWH Secretary would live up to the expectations of the public he swore to serve and not to politicians to whom he owed his confirmation.

Being a three-term Congressman, Alcala got easy sailing at the CA grilling. After one hour of committee hearing, the “integrity” issues raised against Alcala’s holding this Cabinet post was set aside. The CA confirmed his appointment as Agriculture Secretary in obvious haste while the oppositors to his nomination were brow-beaten to submit elsewhere their grievances.

On the other hand, Luistro had to go through three committee hearings. Lim had at least two committee hearings. Those who opposed the nominations of Luistro and Lim were given time to air their respective sides at these public hearings of the CA committees.

The bicameral confirmation body is composed of 25 members – 12 Senators and 12 House members plus Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile as the chairman.

Railroading the CA confirmation process is anathema to good governance. If there’s one avenue for the people to support President Aquino’s “tuwid na daan” administration, it would be the CA where the public could turn to.