Gina Lopez says sorry for P50M bribe claim vs lawmakers

DENR Sec. Gina Lopez INQUIRER PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

Another controversial member of the Duterte Cabinet, Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, has apologized to the Commission on Appointments (CA), this time for saying that some of its members were purportedly offered P50 million each to reject her appointment.

“I also like to take this opportunity to deeply apologize to the members of the Congress because I had originally made a statement of P50 million…” Lopez said when she faced her confirmation hearing at the CA’s committee on environment and natural resources on Wednesday.

READ: Gina Lopez: Solons offered P50M to dump me

“I know many members of the Congress personally and I can truly vouch for their integrity, their sincerity, their love of country so that was not meant as an allusion at all.”

“It was a remark done without any evidence so again, if I had hurt anyone’s feelings, I want to apologize for that in front of everyone,” she said.

Lopez was earlier quoted in the media as saying that “every congressman was offered P50 million if they voted against me.”

But she also quickly dismissed her own statement as mere gossip.

“I have heard—you know how people talk—that there was a kitty where every congressman was offered P50 million if they voted against me. That’s just what I heard. It’s tsismis, there’s no evidence, there’s no anything. And I said that casually. It’s not a news bit,” Lopez said.

“It’s just tsismis, and they turned tsismis into a headline,” she added.

READ: P50M offer to dump me just gossip, says DENR chief Lopez

A number of sworn opposition to Lopez’s appointment has been submitted to the CA. CBB