Yet again, Paje fails to get confirmation

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje: Nixed anew. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Three years into his term, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje again failed to get the nod of the Commission on Appointments at a hearing on Wednesday.

The commission deferred confirmation of Paje’s ad-interim appointment after Sen. Sergio Osmeña objected, saying he wanted to pose more questions to Paje in a future hearing.

There are others opposing his appointment, among them Zamboanga del Sur Gov. Antonio Cerilles who questioned the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) policies on logging and mining.

A unanimous vote is necessary to get confirmation for an appointment.

“I have many questions about the environment,” Osmeña later told reporters.

The senator said he specifically wanted to know what measures Paje would institute to prevent a repeat of the August 2012 tailings spill in Philex Mining Corp.’s Padcal mine site.

“This is already the third spill from a Philex mine. A spill happened earlier in the late 1990s in Negros and Zamboanga. So this is not the first time,” he said.

Philex was found liable and fined P1.034 billion based on the Philippine Mining Act.

Paje has been bypassed since President Aquino appointed him in 2010 to the top post in the DENR.

In the last stretch of the hearing, Osmeña moved to suspend consideration of his nomination. He indicated that he had a host of questions for Paje that would entail a couple of hours, but he had appointments at 12 noon.

“So that we can make sure there’s a quorum, we can schedule a hearing next week,” said Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the CA environment panel.

Earlier in the hearing, Cerilles questioned the DENR’s issuance of a special ore exploration permit (SOEP) to a tribal group in Zamboanga del Sur in 2010 without consultation with stakeholders.