Lacson says sorry for telling why he rejected Lopez

Sen. Panfilo Lacson

Senator Panfilo Lacson apologized on Tuesday for bringing out in the open the reasons why he rejected the appointment of Gina Lopez as Environment Secretary.

The apology came after Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella clarified that President Rodrigo Duterte’s remark that “lobby money talks” in Lopez’s rejection did not necessarily mean that money changed hands at the Commission on Appointments (CA).

“Sinabi lang niya na (He just said that) ‘when I said lobby it’s not necessarily money.’ Ang sinabi lang niya na lobby (He just said that lobby) is a legitimate occupation and so he simply was saying it was not necessarily financial exchange,” Abella said.

READ: Duterte clarifies lobby claim

“Now that the President has clarified his statement, it’s time to move on from the ugly Lopez episode in the Commission on Appointments,” Lacson, who voted against Lopez’s appointment, said in a statement.

The CA rejected last Wednesday the appointment of Lopez, who was replaced by former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Roy Cimatu as the new head of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

READ: Duterte taps Cimatu as new DENR chief

“While I do not regret my rejection vote as I will always maintain that I did the right thing based on my own evaluation and appreciation of the confirmation proceedings, I’m sorry that eventually, I was forced to bring out in the open the reasons why I decided to reject her confirmation,” said Lacson.

“I just felt that I needed to set the record straight, owing to the massive social media bashing and overreaction by the uninformed among our people who got carried away by massive disinformation and the noise created by what could have been a routine exercise of our constitutional mandate,” he added.

In a separate post on Twitter, Lacson said: “There’s humility and courage in realizing and admitting mistakes. A leader comes out stronger and more respected after.”/ac

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