CA deliberates Gina Lopez’ fate

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Will Environment Secretary Gina Lopez’s appointment finally get the approval of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA)?

On Wednesday, members of the CA’s committee on environment and natural resources held an executive session deliberate on Lopez’s appointment and decide whether or not to recommend her nomination to the plenary.

Lopez is facing strong objection from various sectors after she ordered the closure of 23 mines and the suspension of five others.

During Tuesday’s hearing of the committee, Senator Alan Peter Alan Cayetano and Occidental Rep. Josephine Sato expressed concern about her arbitrariness and “strict compliance” with the mining law.

READ: Cayetano tells Lopez: ‘You have to have legal standards to check’

“The question is standards. You have to have legal standards to check. We want to confirm you, Ma’am. But we want to make sure that we will not have an arbitrary DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources). That standards and ideals will be agreed upon,” Cayetano told Lopez.

While she said she was voting for Lopez’s confirmation, Sato expressed concern over arguments on “strict compliance to the law.”

In particular, the congresswoman asked Lopez about the legal basis of her memorandum order on the P2 million required from mines to rehabilitate farmlands.

“The basis for that imposition is that prerogative of the DENR Secretary as written in the Mining Act to make sure that resources of the country are utilized in a way that doesn’t disadvantage the people,” the Secretary said, responding to the query.

But Sato said Lopez could only do this if she has “a specific authority from the law and it’s not just a prerogative.”

So far, two CA members — Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and neophyte Senator Manny Pacquiao—have openly said they would vote for the Secretary’s confirmation. IDL

READ: Win or lose,’ Sotto says he’ll vote to confirm Gina Lopez | Pacquiao throws support behind Lopez confirmation