Angara: Mike A appointment to derail passage of absentee voting bill

Sen. Edgardo Angara said yesterday that the appointment of First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo as special envoy to overseas Filipino workers could derail the approval of the proposed law on absentee voting.

Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, said some members of the Senate panel of the bicameral committee are already having anxieties over the First Gentleman’s appointment.

"She should withdraw the appointment if she wants the measure to be approved and ease the anxieties and concerns of the bicameral panel," Angara said. "After all, so many agencies are already taking care of and looking after the concerns of the OFWs. Mike Arroyo will just be extra baggage in the OFW affairs."

"Where is respect for the law?" former Sen. Raul Roco asked as he described President Arroyo as "petulant" in insisting on her husband’s appointment as special envoy for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) despite criticism from various sectors.

"We are all equal under the law. We should all follow what the law says," Roco said, adding that Mr. Arroyo’s appointment was a violation of Article VII, Section 13 of the Constitution, which prohibits the appointment of spouses and relatives to any position in government.

Roco added that Mr. Arroyo’s appointment also violates Mrs. Arroyo’s Administrative Order No. 1, which prohibits the involvement of her husband or any relatives in government affairs. He said the President should clarify if AO No. 1, which bounds on moral ascendancy, is still in effect.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Friday that "with or without the title," the First Gentleman will carry out special errands for the President as her special envoy to OFWs.

Vice President Teofisto Guingona insisted the Constitution was very clear on conflicts of interest. "From there you can deduce that it is unconstitutional," he said.

Sen. John Osmeña also strongly objected to the appointment, saying this came suspiciously close to bicameral deliberations on the proposed absentee voting law.

He said that among the agencies in charge of OFW affairs are the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Osmeña believes that the First Gentleman’s appointment is related to the 2004 election. "Mike Arroyo will use his designation as special envoy to OFW as a coercive presence in the embassies and consulates abroad."

He also contended that the ultimate agenda is to prop up the presidential campaign of President Arroyo in 2004.

Even administration Sen. Joker Arroyo criticized the President’s appointment of her husband as special envoy for OFWs. "The appointment of Mike Arroyo as OFW ambassador should be seen in the light of absentee voting," he said.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., meanwhile, said he is no longer confident that the absentee voting law would be approved before Congress goes on holiday recess.

He pointed out that Congress has only about eight session days left, and he did not consider the time long enough for the bicameral body to reconcile all differing provisions of the Senate and House versions of the proposed law.

At the same time, he believes that overseas Filipinos could not easily be swayed by First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo on how and whom to vote in the 2004 presidential elections.

"The Filipinos abroad are not stupid. I don’t believe that they would allow themselves to be used," Pimentel said.

He said that Arroyo is merely a "passing figure" in absentee voting, although he expressed suspicions that Arroyo might take advantage of his appointment to bolster the administration ticket’s standing in the upcoming presidential elections.

Saving lives?

But the other side of the argument is that the President’s decision to appoint her spouse as OFW special envoy may save lives of Filipinos facing the death penalty abroad, as he will be given special access other envoys do not enjoy.

This was the position taken by former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Roy Señeres, who now chairs the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).

Señeres said Mr. Arroyo’s appointment, especially in light that he is the First Gentleman, may save the lives of OFWs sitting on death row in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

It will be recalled that Señeres was the ambassador to the UAE during the controversial trial and subsequent release of Sarah Balabagan, the Filipina Muslim OFW who stabbed dead her employer there after he attempted to rape her.

Señeres said that based on his experience as envoy to the UAE in 1994, he had difficulty seeing government officials of the nations where he was posted.

This will not be an obstacle for Mr. Arroyo, Señeres said, as the cachet of the title of First Gentleman will ensure that Mr. Arroyo will have easier access to higher officials, like prime ministers, who will take time out to talk to the President’s husband.

Señeres said that there are at least 100 OFWs facing capital punishment, mainly in the Middle East, who are badly in need of high-level intercession to save them from execution.

"You cannot find these (ministers and other high-ranking officials) because they are jet-setters. This time, if Mr. Arroyo will represent himself (to them) as envoy of the OFWs, they may have difficulties resisting Mr. Arroyo," Señeres said.

In a related development, Deputy Speaker for the Visayas Raul Gonzales of the lone district of Iloilo City challenged Roco’s criticism of the President’s decision to appoint the First Gentleman as her special envoy for OFWs.

"Roco says the appointment of Mr. Arroyo is against the Constitution. Let him point to me the provisions of the Constitution that have been violated. I challenge (him)," Gonzales said.

"Appointing the First Gentleman is not covered by that provision because the provision in the Constitution says the President cannot appoint relatives up to the 4th degree of sanguinity or affinity to the constitutional commissions, to the (Office of the) Ombudsman, to the Cabinet and to government controlled and owned corporations. So, now, where (do the) OFWs (fit in)?" — Efren Danao, Sheila Crisostomo, Leo Solinap