MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Appointments (CA) yesterday confirmed the ad interim appointments of Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon, two commissioners of the Commission on Audit and Civil Service Commission, as well as those of 86 officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Dizon, who received commendations from members of the CA panel on transportation on Tuesday, vowed to implement President Marcos’ directives to make commuting safer and more comfortable for Filipinos.
He also vowed to deliver on Marcos’ directives for transportation officials to finish as soon as possible all ongoing big-ticket transportation projects such as subways, railways, seaports, modern bus systems and others nationwide.
“All ongoing projects that are big – subway, airports, train, seaports, the Davao modern bus system – all have to be fast-tracked because our people can barely wait. Many of these projects are decades-old and once and for all our President wants them finished,” Dizon told reporters after his confirmation.
Apart from Dizon, the CA in plenary also confirmed the ad-interim appointments of COA commissioner Douglas Mallillin and CSC commissioner Luis Meinrado Pañgulayan.
The CA also confirmed the appointments of 86 officers of the AFP, including 20 generals.
They were Major Generals Francisco Lorenzo, Edwin Amadar, Michael Samson, Peter Burgonio, Florante Sison and Rear Adm. Karl Decapia.
Also confirmed were Brigadier Generals Bayani Curaming, Dean Mark Mamaril, Romell Allan Genete, Vicente Naldoza Jr., Patrick de Villa, Jeff Nadugo, Nhel Richard Patricio, Danilo Dupiag, Billy dela Rosa and Antonio Dulnuan Jr., as well as Commodores Joselito de Guzman, Zosimo Bolaños Jr., Sergio Bartolome and Luidegar Casis.
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa called on all 86 officials confirmed by the CA to never allow themselves to be used by anyone in politics, urging them to stay politically neutral and maintain their allegiance to the Filipino people.
“You should be apolitical in every way and the only time that you will be allowed to express your political biases is when you exercise your right of suffrage. Other than that, you’re not allowed,” he said during the AFP confirmation hearing.
“And I’m very confident that you won’t allow yourselves to be used. I’m appealing to you to remain politically neutral and apolitical,” he added.
New envoys
President Marcos has appointed and designated seven new Philippine ambassadors in Asia, Middle East, Europe and Mexico, a member of the CA disclosed yesterday.
“The President issued the nominations on June 2, and all were formally received by the Commission on the same day,” Assistant Minority Leader Johnny Pimentel, who belongs to the opposition bloc in the House of Representatives contingent to the CA, said.
The second district congressman of Surigao del Sur named the nominees as Philippine Permanent Representative to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Evangeline Ong Jimenez-Ducrocq, in Jakarta, Indonesia; Ambassador to South Korea Bernadette Therese Fernandez; Ambassador to Germany Maria Teresa Almojuela; Ambassador to Poland Alan Deniega, with concurrent jurisdiction over Lithuania and Ukraine; Ambassador to Bahrain Gines Jaime Ricardo Gallaga; Ambassador to Lebanon Marlowe Miranda; Ambassador to Mexico Arvin de Leon, with concurrent jurisdiction over the Caribbean nations of Cuba and the Dominican Republic, as well as the Central American countries of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
Pimentel emphasized that unlike ad interim appointments – which take effect immediately pending CA confirmation – nominees cannot assume their posts until they have secured the commission’s consent.
He further explained that both the assignment of ambassadors and the promotion in rank of senior foreign service officers require CA approval.
Under the Constitution, the 25-member CA is mandated to assess the competence, integrity and fitness of key presidential appointees, with the authority to either confirm or reject them.
The CA comprises 12 members each from the House of Representatives and the Senate, with the Senate President serving as its ex-officio presiding officer.
“Confirmation hearings serve as an important safeguard, ensuring proper oversight of the President’s power to appoint officials to critical diplomatic posts,” Pimentel said.
Lack of time
The CA has deferred the confirmation hearings of two Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioners, citing lack of material time, just as the panel was hearing arguments from a Duterte Youth party-list official objecting to the pair’s appointment to the poll body.
Comelec Commissioners Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal and Noli Pipo’s confirmation hearings were moved to June 10, as the CA had to hold a plenary session to confirm previous appointees who underwent panel hearings.
Casingal, who was being interviewed by the CA committee on constitutional commissions, was facing questions from Duterte Youth president Ronald Cardema–, who was sworn into the proceedings and reiterated his party-list’s opposition to the two commissioners.
Earlier this week, Cardema accused Casingal and Pipo of “partiality” for signing a Comelec resolution suspending the proclamation of Duterte Youth party-list winners during the midterm elections.
He questioned why his party-list’s nominees’ proclamations were suspended for a pending case before the Comelec, when some senators and representatives were proclaimed despite having pending cases before the poll body.
Casingal and Pipo, long-time Comelec officials, were named to the poll body as commissioners by President Marcos in February.
In another development, the heads of the Department of Tourism (DOT) and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) thanked the President for retaining them in their respective posts.
Grateful for the second chance given to her by the Chief Executive, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco declared the agency under her helm would “double down on efforts to boost Philippine tourism.”
The DOT would “continue to push for innovative programs to build gains for the industry and gainful livelihood for the Filipino people who rely on tourism,” she added.
MMDA Chairman Romando Artes – whose agency is under the Office of the President and his post a Cabinet rank – said he took the “renewed trust and confidence” given by Marcos “as an inspiration and a challenge for me to further improve my work and service to the people.”
Trouble in Mindanao
Meanwhile, the governor of Sultan Kudarat is ranting about the non-completion of projects of the Marcos administration in Mindanao due to alleged political machinations of Special Assistant to the President Anton Lagdameo.
The reelected governor of the province, Pax Mangudadatu, had alleged in a national TV program that owing to Lagdameo’s meddling in Mindanao politics, no big-ticket projects of President Marcos in Mindanao has been accomplished.
Mangudadatu, whose parents both lost in separate Maguindanao provinces in recent elections for governor, had said Lagdameo’s meddling with local politics had weakened the support for the administration during the midterm elections. – Delon Porcalla, Ghio Ong, John Unson