Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano. (File photo by RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Gina Lopez’s “unwillingness to comply with institutional processes” made her unfit to head the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said on Friday.
“She would have embarrassed the President in no time,“ Cayetano, President Rodrigo Duterte’s running mate in the 2016 elections, said in a statement he posted on Facebook.
The senator made the remark after Lopez insinuated in a television interview that he voted against her appointment because the Zamoras had funded his political campaign.
She was referring to the family of San Juan Rep. Ronaldo B. Zamora, whose elder brother, Manuel B. Zamora Jr. is founder and chairman of Nickel Asia Corp.
On Wednesday, the Commission on Appointments (CA) rejected Lopez’s appointment as environment secretary.
Cayetano, a CA member, noted that majority of the commission voted to reject Lopez’s appointment and yet the latter singled him out.
“Since the 2007 campaign my stand on responsible mining and the strictest,highest standards for industries that affect the environment has been consistent,” he said.
“At the time of the voting, I felt that for me to explain my vote at that time would be like rubbing salt in a wound, because I would have to enumerate all the reasons why she is not fit to be DENR secretary,” Cayetano said. “I felt it would be cruel to reject then put her down.”
“Yet she now singles me out when a vast majority of the CA voted to reject (after giving her a year to prove herself) her appointment,” he added.
Cayetano lamented that he did not only give Lopez enough chances to dispel fears that she would not observe the legal process in regulating the mining industry. But he also supported her in closing down mining sites that were not compliant with the highest standards.
Despite this, however, illegal mining and logging continued to proliferate while other sectors that needed both strict regulation continued to destroy the environment, the senator said.
“Unfortunately, the secretary was adamant in defending her illegal actions,” Cayetano said.
“If she had carried on with her mindset, it would have embarrassed the Duterte administration sooner or later,” he added. “She would have placed the administration in a predicament that would be hard to defend.”
While he said he respected Lopez’s passion as an advocate for the environment, the senator said she failed to understand that “she cannot arrogate unto herself constitutional powers reserved exclusively for Congress.”
“Many officials have invoked good intentions when they violated our anti-graft and corruption laws, and President Rodrigo Duterte was left with no choice but to terminate them,” Cayetano said. “Ms. Lopez’s recent acts already bordered along these lines.”
“We are all for alleviating poverty and the strict enforcement of our laws, but we cannot and should not do so by being whimsical in imposing regulations that violate constitutional processes,” he went on.
In the end, Cayetano said he hoped the President would appoint another Lopez “with the same zeal, yet still mindful of the requisite that one must be faithful to the mandate and dictates of our laws and processes.” /atm