Committee-level vote on Lopez’s appointment still to be decided

DENR Secretary Gina Lopez speaks at the Commission on Appointments confirmation hearing at the Senate on Thursday, March 9, 2017. (Photo by LYN RILLON/Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The Commission on Appointments (CA) will hold a caucus to decide on Tuesday whether it will vote on that day to either confirm or reject the appointment of Environment Secretary Regina Lopez at the committee level.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a member of the CA, said on Sunday that Lopez was deemed bypassed by the CA because her appointment was not acted upon because Congress was set to take a break this week.

Lacson said the CA committee on environment chaired by Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao closed last Thursday its public hearings on Lopez’s confirmation.

Lopez, who is now on a trip abroad, faced the CA committee for two consecutive days last week to answer a long queue of people opposing her appointment, including representatives from the mining and education sectors, who cited her lack of technical and scientific knowledge, poor appreciation of the law, and disregard for due process in enforcing her policies.

In a radio interview on Sunday, Lacson said voting at the committee level on Lopez’s appointment would happen if majority of the 17-member CA committee members would agree to it.

And since Lopez is abroad, he said the CA committee would tackle the result of its vote in plenary only in May, when Congress returns from its break.

“If she is reappointed when we come back in May, then the plenary will push through and that’s the time we tackle her confirmation or rejection,” the senator said.

He said Lopez was likely to be reappointed following President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement last Saturday that he favored her as environment secretary even if it would mean that government would P70 billion lose in taxes from mining.

Asked on her chance of being appointed, Lacson said Lopez was facing many “complicated” issues raised by her opponents.

He said the CA committee members would discuss on Tuesday, among other things, the standards that should be used in deciding on issues such as the the suspension or shutting down of mining firms for violating environmental laws.

He recalled that Lopez had stated at the hearings that she had her own standards apart from the international standards used in environmental management. /atm

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