‘Acting’ up to the end

Though being repeatedly ignored, it does not stop Sen. Imee Marcos from calling out anew last week the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM). In her latest tirade, Sen. Imee took issue over the non-submission of half a dozen Marcos Cabinet officials to the confirmation process of the 20th Congress.

Calling it a “perversion of what should be a system of checks and balances” in running the affairs of the government, Senator Imee growled that at least 12 Marcos Cabinet officials subject to congressional confirmation remain in “acting” capacity. Some of these department secretaries have, in fact, been holding appointment papers for more than a year already. Thus, she called these particular Marcos Cabinet officials as “over-acting” secretaries.

Not that she meant these “over-acting” secretaries were OA, bad actors or hams, in showbiz parlance.

With just two years left in his term of office, PBBM obviously really intended not to subject half of his Cabinet officials to the rigors of the Commission on Appointments (CA). The CA is a congressional bicameral body mandated with the specific task of screening to either confirm or reject ad interim appointments of Cabinet officials with line department portfolios only.

The 25-man CA is composed of equal number of senators and members of the House of Representatives. The CA of the 20th Congress is headed by the incumbent Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian.

PBBM has not submitted to the CA any department secretaries he had appointed since the 20th Congress opened its first regular session in July last year until it winded down in June this year.

Since the 20th Congress opened its second regular session last July, the CA has so far vetted and confirmed several career ambassadors and foreign service officers of the Department of Foreign Affairs and newly promoted officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) from the rank of colonel to general. Heads and members of constitutional bodies must also undergo confirmation process at the CA. The most recent CA approval was that of newly promoted AFP chief of staff Gen. Antonio Nafarette.

A Cabinet official is serving in an “acting capacity” if he or she was appointed while Congress is in session. An “ad interim” appointment is signed by the President if it was done when Congress is in recess. He or she is allowed to continue to serve in “acting” capacity while awaiting the final pass by the CA. But the Office of the President (OP) must issue ad interim appointments to enable a Cabinet secretary in “acting” capacity to continue with the discharge of his or her official functions as department head.

Senator Imee scored the executive departments headed by “acting” secretaries who are now the ones who will defend before them in Congress their respective budget proposals for 2027. Ironically, one of them is Department of Budget and Management (DBM) “acting” Secretary Kim Robert de Leon who earlier submitted to both chambers of Congress the proposed 2027 General Appropriations Act (GAA) bill.

“We are already in the budget season and yet we have no (permanent) budget secretary,” Senator Imee fumed.

“Secretary Kim is merely in an ‘acting’ capacity, together with a number of very significant positions. Right now, as I see it, there are 12 ‘acting’ or ‘over-acting’ secretaries,” she pointed out.

Senator Imee rattled off the rest of the “over-acting” secretaries holding “very significant positions” – Executive Secretary Ralph Recto; Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon; Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Giovanni Lopez; Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Dave Gomez; Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Fredderick Vida; Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Frederick Go; Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna; Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Francis Tolentino and Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Dr. Edwin Mercado.

She missed mention of Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay. She included in her list non-CA officials, namely, Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) president and chief executive officer Joshua Bingcang and BCDA Board of Directors member Dante Liban.

A check with CA showed that Malacañang already submitted the appointment papers of Gomez.

Senator Imee rhetorically argued these department secretaries in “acting” capacity have limited powers because of their unconfirmed status. Continuing her digs at the “acting” secretaries, she explained her concern: “It’s only routine administration that they are allowed to do, day-to-day operations, executive orders that are already existing. You have no discretionary or any personnel movement that can be made.”

Senator Imee is designated CA minority floor leader of the Senate panel. The membership to the CA is apportioned in accordance with political parties with the most number of senators and House members.

There is actually nothing new to PBBM’s tack of not submitting the appointment papers of his Cabinet to the CA. Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did this in the specific case of the late DOJ secretary Raul Gonzales. A very outspoken Cabinet official of Mrs. Arroyo against her administration critics, including those in Congress, Gonzales served as DOJ secretary for five years, even if the CA bypassed his confirmation several times. Mrs. Arroyo merely re-issued her appointment to Gonzales as “acting” DOJ secretary each time the CA bypassed him. He was finally confirmed by the CA in June 2008.

This practice prompted the subsequent CA to adopt new rules. If bypassed for the third time, the CA must vote to reject a presidential nominee who can thus no longer be reappointed.

These presidential appointees go through the CA wringer where objections, including anonymous letters to their nominations, are opened to public hearings. Himself a former senator and once a congressman of Ilocos Norte, PBBM only knows too well the horse-trading that also takes place quietly at the CA.

Thus, there is rhyme and reason why PBBM would rather re-issue the appointment papers of half of his Cabinet team. So they will remain “acting” until PBBM bows out on June 30, 2028?