By Rey Anthony Chiu
PIA - Bohol
Nine of the crème de la crème of the Arroyo Administration failed to “squeeze through the needle†of the Commission on Appointments at the close of the 2007 sessions.
Among those bypassed by the CA were the appointments of Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, who has a Boholana for a wife, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, who also traces his roots in Maribojoc, Budget and Management Secretary Rolando Andaya, Jr. and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.
Also failing to get the CA nod are Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane, and Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza.
Notwithstanding such, Malacanang through Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said that the prerogative of the President to appoint and re-appoint Cabinet members is safeguarded by the Constitution.
Getting optimistic about this, Ermita said the Cabinet members who have failed to secure the CA’s nod should take their experience as a challenge to do better at their jobs.
“This should compel the Cabinet members who failed in the process to perform much better to prove his worth so that in the end, members of the Commission of Appointments would realize the President was right in choosing such a Cabinet member,†Ermita said.
Ermita made the statement in reaction over reports that the Commission on Appointments (CA) would adopt a so-called “2-strike†policy starting next year.
In here, the bicameral legislative body would reject outright the appointment of a Cabinet member whose appointment had been bypassed twice.
Simply put, once the commission bypasses an appointment twice, his or her appointment would be automatically rejected.
The Commission believe that by adopting the “2-strike†policy, it is finally putting its foot down on the serial reappointments of bypassed Cabinet members.
Over this, Ermita countered that there was no law that restricts the President from reappointing “people whom she trusts.â€
“The choice of Cabinet members is the prerogative of the President. She appoints people who she thinks can help her run the government, people that she knows and has trust and confidence in and therefore, there is no law that says they (CA) can adopt such a policy,†Ermita said at a weekly press conference in Malacañang.
“The Constitution does not impose that restriction on the appointees of the President nor does it give a restriction on the President to follow what they (CA) are thinking of,†he added.
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=8079.0
Topic: Bypassed by the Commission on Appointments (Read 877 times)