Bill seeks to limit Cabinet reappointments

MANILA, Philippines - Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr. has filed a bill that will limit the power of the President to reappoint Cabinet members who are bypassed by the Commission on Appointments (CA).

Under the measure, a Cabinet appointee or senior diplomatic or military officer seeking CA confirmation would no longer be eligible for appointment or promotion if he is bypassed three times.

If the Rodriguez bill were a law, President Duterte would have been barred from reappointing for the third time Environment Secretary Regina Lopez, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo and Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial.

The President will not intervene with the CA when it decides on the fate of the four bypassed Cabinet officials who have been reappointed to their respective posts, Malacañang said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Duterte finds the four officials “fit for reappointment.” 

Asked if the Chief Executive would go as far as convincing the CA to confirm the bypassed Cabinet members, Abella said, “He never intervenes.” 

Lopez is facing opposition from operators of mines she has ordered closed for allegedly destroying the environment, including the mining firm run by the family of San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora, who heads the 12-member House of Representatives contingent in the CA.

During a public hearing, Lopez bluntly told Zamora, “Your brother has destroyed a big mountain.”

Mariano is having problems with CA members opposed to his plan to ban the conversion of agricultural lands into commercial or residential use to preserve whatever area is left for food production.

In the case of Taguiwalo, she had an encounter with congressmen on the use of funds the lawmakers had allocated for their districts through her department.

As for Ubial, Rep. Harry Roque of party-list group Kabayan is opposing her confirmation due to her supposed ambivalence on the use of a newly discovered dengue vaccine.

A report Ubial has sent to the House committee on health showed that she had raised red flags on the procurement of the vaccine worth P3.5 billion by former secretary Janette Garin and its use for the first time on a wide scale on public school pupils and students.

At least three deaths had been reported months after they received the first dose of the vaccine.

The CA bypassed Lopez, Mariano, Taguiwalo and Ubial shortly after rejecting the appointment of foreign affairs secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. –  With Alexis Romero, Louise Maureen Simeon