PHILIPPINES: COMMISSION ON APPOINTMENTS URGED TO ADOPT POLICY FOR NON-REAPPOINTMENTS OF BYPASSED CABINET MEMBERS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel,
Jr. (PDP-Laban) today backed a proposal in the
Commission on Appointments for Cabinet members not to
be reappointed anymore after they have been repeatedly
bypassed by the Commission on Appointments.

Pimentel urged the CA to adopt the suggestion of Davao
Rep. Prospero Nograles, Commission vice-chairman, that
Cabinet members who have been bypassed by the
Commission at least twice should no longer be
reappointed by the President.

The so-called “two-strike” policy broached by Nograles
means that Cabinet members who were bypassed by the
Commission twice are deemed rejected by the bicameral
appointments body after they underwent the
confirmation hearings.

“The proposal of Congressman Nograles for the
President to scuttle the appointments of Cabinet
members who do not get confirmed by the Commission on
Appointments is a good move,” the minority leader
said.

“However, it would even be better if being repeatedly
bypassed by the CA should cause the President to
reconsider the appointments concerned. Like what they
do in the United States, being bypassed by the US
Senate body, which is equivalent of our CA, almost
automatically causes the US president to consider the
appointment withdrawn.”

Pimentel said that kind of arrangement strengthens the
rule of law and the system of checks and balances, two
concepts without which the democratic system cannot
survive.

Usually, Cabinet members and other presidential
appointees are bypassed because the CA is not
convinced of their qualifications and fitness for the
job or they have failed to submit documentary
requirements on time.

Senate President Manuel Villar, ex-officio chairman,
has warned that failure of Cabinet members to submit
documentary requirements within the prescribed period
without sufficient justification is a ground for
rejection.
-o0o-

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