Environment Secretary Ramon Paje INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Environment Secretary Ramon Paje got the nod of a panel from the Commission on Appointments on Tuesday, after going through the wringer for three years.
On its eighth hearing, the CA committee on environment voted to approve and transmit Paje’s appointment to the plenary, but not after Sen. Sergio Osmeña III grilled him on some issues.
The CA is expected to approve Paje’s appointment in plenary Wednesday.
“This is democracy at work,’’ Paje, who had been bypassed by the powerful body since 2010, told reporters as he emerged from the hearing.
Osmeña, who peppered Paje with questions about the grant of a permit to a mining company that leveled a mountain in Zambales and left before the committee voted on his nomination, said he was “outvoted.’’
“It’s already the end of the sessions, `Let’s end this,’ and the congressmen wanted to vote on it, and I didn’t get a single vote. I was like a lone ranger,’’ he told reporters. “They want to vote on it, and I don’t want to block the right to vote.’’
He said he was disappointed, but now he could rest.
Looking back, Paje said he had been grilled about his policies, not his competence, but then again he acknowledged the lawmakers’ right to do this.
“Remember when you are being evaluated at the CA, you are being evaluated on your competency. I think I have no issue with that. The issues that cropped had to do with our work and policies, which I think Congress should really do because they should help us in crafting policies,’’ he said.
President Aquino last week lamented that the CA confirmation proceedings involving Paje, Secretary Leila de Lima and Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman were taking such a long time.
In last week’s hearing, Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada confronted De Lima about Janet Lim Napoles’ April 2013 letter to President Aquino, her ties with murder suspect former Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes, and her purported P1-million allowance when she chaired the Commission on Human Rights.
Estrada asked De Lima to produce Napoles’ letter for Wednesday’s resumption of the CA confirmation proceedings on appointment. Unlike De Lima, Soliman breezed through last week’s confirmation hearing.
Congress is adjourning this week and will reopen on July 28 for the second regular session of the 16th Congress.
On Tuesday, Osmeña questioned Paje about the grant of an environmental compliance certificate to DMCI Holdings and DMCI Mining Corp. despite opposition by former Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones.
Palmones, who obtained a writ of kalikasan against the mining company from the Supreme Court, wondered why the Department of Environment and Natural Resources had not issued a cease and desist order against the company.
Palmones had accused the firms of leveling a mountain in Bolitoc village, Sta. Cruz and dumping the soil into the sea to create a man-made foreshore for their mining operations.
Paje said the Environmental Management Bureau granted an ECC to the company in 2007 and this remained in effect till today. But he said it was the Philippine Ports Authority that granted it a foreshore lease agreement.
Osmeña, however, pointed out that the agreement and permit were “two different animals. ‘’
“That’s amazing,’’ he said in response to Paje’s claim the EMB had not cancelled the ECC. “By virtue of another letter with regard to the ECC, it’s very clear. This certificate shall exist for 25 years upon issuance or upon termination of foreshore agreement whichever comes first.’’
“I’m accusing you of barefacedly lying before the committee. I move that we suspend and defer the consideration of this nomination,’’ he added.
At this point, Paje apologized, and the committee went on break.
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