CA likely to bypass Taguiwalo, Mariano, Ubial anew

MANILA, Philippines -  Due to lack of time and unresolved issues on its rules, the Commission on Appointments (CA) is expected to bypass the appointments of Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano and Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial, leaders of the bicameral body said yesterday.

Isabela Rep. Rodito Albano III, CA majority leader, said the concerned committees will have to decide on whether to make recommendations on the fitness of Mariano, Taguiwalo and Ubial to hold their Cabinet posts before Congress adjourns on June 2.

The three Cabinet officials continue to face stiff opposition at the CA owing to allegations of corruption and incompetence, as well as being leaders of the Left in the case of Mariano and Taguiwalo.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, who chairs the CA committee on agrarian reform, also said the body is still tackling the resolution filed by Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV seeking a review of the secret balloting rule.

Sotto said the confirmation hearings for the three Cabinet secretaries were “no longer possible” because the CA rules committee still has to resolve Aquino’s resolution. Sen. Gregorio Honasan, chairman of the health committee, said as much.

CA members, including Aquino, earlier agreed to the secret balloting rule but following the controversy over the rejection of Gina Lopez as environment secretary, the senator wants the rule reviewed, to the consternation of other lawmakers.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the CA has agreed to take up the promotions of senior military officials, and the appointments of the Cabinet officials will be tackled when Congress resumes session in July.

“The point is, nominees and appointees cannot dictate on the CA as what Secretary-designate Taguiwalo impliedly did last Wednesday when she bellyached about not being attended to,” Lacson said.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said there should be no reason for the three Cabinet officials to worry about being bypassed.

“So what’s the problem? They just go back and get ad interim appointments – they just go back to the executive branch where they’re from,” Pimentel said in a telephone interview.

During the hearing of the CA committee on health, last week Ubial was accused of repeatedly lying before Congress, incompetence, wasting public funds and corruption by Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque, one of the objectors to her appointment.

“This (deferment) is not deliberate. (The CA) is not dragging its feet. Because of the enormity of the responsibility on your shoulders, public interest demands the commission be allowed to deliberate further,” Honasan said shortly before suspending deliberations on her appointment.

Ubial was also scored for proposing to distribute condoms to high school students as a means to stop the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS.

Roque said he initially supported her appointment but after she had testified in hearings at the House of Representatives, and after receiving sworn statements on irregularities at the Department of Health, he believed she is unfit for the post.

“The appointee (Ubial) has a propensity to lie. She lied to the public when she declared that Zika virus is not endemic to the Philippines and there were no case yet of the viral infection in the country,” the lawmaker said.

He also alleged that Ubial flipped-flopped on the government’s P3-billion dengue vaccination program, and has been working on illegally diverting the funds for the program for the acquisition of pneumonia vaccines under suspicious circumstances.

He said Ubial has been justifying the acquisition of pneumonia vaccines using data from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) that purportedly showed high demand.

Roque said the data was unreliable owing to the reports of fraudulent claims in PhilHealth. It was also suspicious that Ubial ordered nearly six million doses for the vaccine, or quadruple the annual average order of the DOH.

He also pointed out that instead of the price per dose going down as the orders go up, Ubial’s acquisition was at nearly P1,000 per vial compared to P800 per unit when the DOH ordered only one million doses last year.

There were other objectors to Ubial’s appointment lined up to speak before the panel, including ACTS-OFW party-list Rep. Aniceto Bertiz, but their presentation was scheduled for a later date.