CA to check credentials of 171 Marcos appointees

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 171 presidential appointees, mostly military officials and newly designated Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, will go through the scrutiny of the Commission on Appointments (CA) when Congress resumes session on Jan. 22.

CA Assistant Minority Leader and Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel encouraged the public on Tuesday to formally inform the body of their opposition to or complaint against any of the appointees scheduled for confirmation. Any information, written report, sworn and notarized complaints, or opposition should be submitted to the CA secretariat, he added.

“The CA has already received the appointment papers of Secretary Recto, along with the nomination papers of two ambassadors and the promotion papers of 168 senior military officers,” Pimentel said in a statement.

The two diplomats are Flerida Ann Camille Mayo, the Philippine ambassador to Cambodia, and Edgar Tomas Auxilian, the Philippine ambassador to Papua New Guinea with concurrent jurisdiction over Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.

Among the 168 military officials up for confirmation are Army Maj. Generals Leodevic Guinid, Allan Hambala, Edmundo Peralta, and Ramon Zagala II.

Guinid is the Army vice commander, while Peralta is the chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Intelligence Service. Hambala commands the 10th Infantry “Agila” division, while Zagala, the former commander of the Presidential Security Group, heads the AFP Civil Relations Service.

The CA, composed of 12 senators and 12 members of the House of Representatives with the Senate president standing as ex officio presiding officer, is authorized by the Constitution to look into the competence, fitness, and integrity of key presidential appointees and to approve or disapprove their designation.