Bypassed for the nth time no more

Senate President Franklin Drilon, a.k.a. @Frankahan, is not just the head of the Senate but also the concurrent presiding chairman of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA). More than three weeks after the 16th Congress started its first regular sessions, Drilon formally convened the newly constituted 25-man bicameral body last Wednesday.

As Senate president, Drilon is the ex officio chairman of the joint congressional confirmation body. Drilon does not need to vote to confirm or reject a CA nominee. But in case there is a need to break a tie, the CA president must cast a vote that will decide the fate of the nominee.

Twelve other senators and 12 members of the House of Representatives comprise the CA. They pass upon for approval or rejection the ad interim appointments of all Cabinet nominees, ambassadors and foreign service officials, military officers from colonels to generals and heads of all constitutional bodies.

Western Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento heads the 12-member House of Representatives contingent in the CA. Sarmiento is the body’s vice chairman. Both Drilon and Sarmiento are leaders of the ruling Liberal Party of President Benigno “Noy” Aquino lll. Drilon chairs the ruling party, while Sarmiento is the secretary-general.

The first order of business of the new CA was to prepare for deliberations on President Aquino’s re-appointments of the four Cabinet members and other government officials whose confirmations were bypassed by the last 15th Congress.

Other appointments pending at the CA are those of new Armed Forces chief of staff Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista, Commissioners Luie Guia, Grace Padaca and Al Parreño of the Commission on Elections, Civil Service Commissioner Nieves Osorio, and Audit Commissioners Heidi Mendoza and Rowena Guanzon.

 The appointments of four Cabinet members still at the CA included Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima; Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon Soliman; Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon Paje, and Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla.

 P-Noy did not submit right away to the CA Paje’s appointment. Paje was designated acting secretary of the DENR where he served as undersecretary during the previous administration. President Aquino finally issued his permanent appointment as DENR secretary in June 2011. Petilla, on the other hand, was appointed in November 2012.

The CA has not confirmed De Lima and Soliman since President Aquino appointed them from day one of his administration in 2010. Thus, De Lima and Soliman have been bypassed the most number of times by the CA over the past three years of the previous Congress.

Like De Lima and Soliman, Mendoza of COA has been bypassed at the CA many times over. CA members identified with Vice President Jejomar Binay blocked her confirmation. Binay had accused Mendoza of supposedly allowing herself to be used by his political enemies to destroy him.

Because of the repeated re-appointments, P-Noy has come under fire, especially from his most bitter critics. He is reminded about his previous advocacy against issuing ad interim appointments to bypassed Cabinet and other officials when the latter was still a congressman from Tarlac and later senator.

At the start of the CA sessions of this incumbent Congress, Drilon declared there is no limitation on the President’s constitutional power to reappoint officials. Having cleared up this issue, Drilon announced the CA would schedule the confirmation hearings of the four Cabinet members by September.

For varied reasons or causes, political and otherwise, it is not clear why these P-Noy Cabinet officials have failed to hurdle the CA confirmation process. In most cases, the CA expresses its disagreement with the President’s choice of a Cabinet member: bypassing the appointee, instead of outright rejecting him or her.

Although it is a bicameral body, the CA composition is based on party representation. Obviously, the LP members and their allies in the 16th Congress got the bigger slice of the pie.

The 12 senators who have been given CA seats include Senate president pro tempore Ralph Recto and Senators Teofisto Guingona III (both from LP); Alan Cayetano, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Sonny Trillanes (all from NP); Sergio Osmeña III (Independent); Loren Legarda (NPC), Koko Pimentel (PDP-Laban), Miriam Defensor-Santiago (PRP) comprise the CA majority.

Senate minority leader Juan Ponce Enrile heads the contingent of the minority at the CA along with Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Vicente Sotto III.

On part of the House of Representatives, the members include Sarmiento as CA vice chairman and the following congressmen: Antonio del Rosario, George Arnaiz, Antonio Lagdameo Jr, Rodolfo Fariñas, Rommel Amatong, Rufus Rodriguez, Rosendo Labadlabad, Roy Loyola, Conrado Estrella III, Rodolfo Albano and Catalina Leonen-Pizarro.

From all indications, the ruling party has the number and control of the majority at the CA. So it’s not an empty boast on the part of Drilon to fix a certain period by which the four Aquino Cabinet officials will finally be confirmed at the CA. 

By hook or by crook, the message was loud and clear — the CA will approve the confirmation of four Aquino Cabinet officials.

What P-Noy has not been doing to help his four embattled Cabinet alter-egos, Drilon takes up the cudgels for them. This is especially needed by De Lima who is currently in the middle yet another controversial investigation into alleged “pork-barrel” scam involving a number of lawmakers from the 15th and 16th Congress, some of who are CA members now.

In his Twitter account, Drilon posted the following statement: “On whether the DOJ investigation will affect the confirmation of DOJ Sec De Lima, I am confident that the lawmakers will be objective in their questions on the nominees. I cannot discard the possibility that it will be asked. But I am confident that this will not affect the judgment of the members of the Commission on the qualification and competence of the nominees.”

That said, Drilon hopes to save De Lima from being bypassed by the CA for the nth time.