Energy chief Cusi fails to get CA’s nod

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi. JOSEPH VIDAL/PRIB

Unlike Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi failed to get the nod of the Commission on Appointments in his first appearance in his confirmation hearings on Monday.

Not even the appearance of Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III at the CA energy committee headed by Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon helped Cusi ride through the questions posed to him by Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

In the end, Cusi was asked to return for another hearing on his confirmation as energy secretary on Oct. 12 with data required of him by Lacson.

“That’s ok. That’s fine, that is a healthy discussion ..at least his questions were right,” Cusi told reporters when asked how he felt after the deferment of his confirmation.

Cusi had promised to provide Lacson next week with the number of barangays (villages) with 50 percent of sitios (sub-villages) electrified as well as a working figure on how much government had lost to the power purchase agreements (PPA) with independent power producers.

The hearing lasted two hours, with the committee taking a break for some 30 minutes and some senators discussing Lacson’s questions.

The hearing started with San Juan City Rep. Ronaldo Zamora saying the House contingent of the CA energy committee had no questions for Cusi and was ready to endorse his nomination in plenary.

But senators in the committee had questions for Cusi, starting with Lacson who asked him of the barangay electrification program as well as the PPA.

Noting he had come early for the plenary, Pimentel said he stayed at the hearing to find out what was “stalling” or issues there.

He acknowledged that Cusi was a supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said it was tradition in the CA to allow its member-legislator to ask questions and require submissions of data from Cabinet and other presidential nominees.

Last week, Diokno breezed through the CA confirmation hearings, being the first Cabinet secretary under the Duterte administration to be confirmed for his post. RAM

READ: CA confirms Budget chief’s appointment