House: Bypassed officials should no longer be appointed

MANILA, Philippines - Congressmen want the President to no longer appoint officials bypassed by the Commission on Appointments (CA) three times.

An official is bypassed when the CA does not confirm his appointment upon the adjournment of Congress. An adjournment refers to a recess like when the legislature takes a break for the Christmas holidays.

Lawmakers normally have four breaks during a regular session.

The House committee on revision of laws has endorsed a bill declaring that a presidential appointee not confirmed by the CA for three adjournments would no longer be eligible for reappointment by the President.

Reps. Rufus Rodriguez, who is a CA member; his brother Maximo, who represents party-list group Abante Mindanao, and Francis Gerald Abaya of Cavite are the authors of the bill.

Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City said the measure aims to uphold the constitutional power of the appointments commission by limiting the authority of the President to reappoint bypassed officials.

“The CA is usually reluctant to reject outright the presidential nominees, hence, will not confirm the appointment, resulting in bypass. Despite the bypass, the President would reappoint the same nominees. This practice of the President of simply reappointing nominees, even after several bypasses, subverts the principle of confirmation mandated by our Constitution,” Rodriguez said.

He said the practice “makes a mockery” of the constitutional duties of the CA to confirm and reject presidential appointees on the basis of the check and balance powers of the legislative branch of the government.

The lawmaker said that in some cases, a nominee does not comply with the requirement for the submission of documents to support his confirmation, knowing the President would issue him a new appointment when he is bypassed.

Abaya said the absence of a limit to reappointments renders the authority of the CA ineffective.

He said there have been instances in the past when an official was bypassed several times but reappointed by the President each time the CA did not confirm him.

CA members can make life difficult for presidential appointees by bypassing them. They can invoke Section 20 of the CA rules, which allows any member to seek the deferment of confirmation on an appointee even without explaining his reason. When Section 20 is invoked, the CA presiding officer has no option but to defer an appointee’s confirmation.

A member’s right under such section cannot be availed of during the last session of the CA before the annual adjournment in June of every year. This means that a member can exercise such right for one year.

Thus, many presidential appointees and military and diplomatic officers who have to go through the confirmation process often kowtow to the wishes of CA members.

Some lawmakers sitting in the commission are known to make ambassadors and consuls their personal drivers and tourist guides or the chaperons of their wives whenever they visit their countries of assignment.