Ubial’s confirmation in limbo
The Commission on Appointments (CA) will hold on later dates the confirmation hearings for Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano and Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial due to lack of time.
There is also the unresolved issue of whether or not the secret balloting system should be scrapped as proposed by Sen. Bam Aquino.
My sources within the bicameral body say Taguiwalo and Mariano will surely be confirmed in the next session of Congress, but they doubt Ubial will.
The only issue against Taguiwalo and Mariano is that both are leftists, which is a nonissue if you ask the man on the street.
But allegations of corruption and incompetence against Ubial, a former assistant health secretary before her appointment to the top health department post, are being taken very seriously by the CA.
One issue was the trip she made to Cuba after her appointment. She reportedly left with a big delegation which included her husband and children.
Another one was her rejection of an order for much-needed dengue vaccines in favor of pneumonia shots because she reportedly favored a distributor.
She later backtracked after an outcry.
Ubial also offered to distribute condoms to schoolchildren but was rebuffed.
At one time, she went to Qatar to inaugurate a Filipino hospital but sources said she went there for personal reasons as she is allegedly one of the facility’s secret owners.
With all the corruption issues hounding Ubial, it seems like the Department of Health would be better off without her at the helm.
Mining company owners were ecstatic after their “supporters” at the CA rejected the appointment of Environment Secretary Gina Lopez.
One of them was a Chinese-Filipino who runs a mining operation in Brookes Point town in Palawan.
Gina had ordered the mining firm closed for allegedly destroying the environment.
But the moment she stepped down as environment chief, the company started to cut down thousands of trees in the town.
The owner of that mining firm ought to be held accountable for the wanton destruction of a virgin forest.
My friend, Rod Ongpauco, decries the post on social media about the supposed theft of a bag containing between P50,000 and P60,000 at his Isdaan restaurant in Gerona, Tarlac.
The money was reportedly in a van left at the parking area.
“My business has suffered a slump because of the unfair post which went viral. If she can prove to me that she really lost P50,000 or P60,000 as she claims, I will return the money,” Rod told me.
The Gerona police station, in an official report on Cruz’s complaint, said she wasn’t interested in recovering the money.
“The P50,000 or P60,000 which I withdrew from the bank yesterday is not important. I have so much money, my time is more valuable. I have no time to file a case. I have many relatives and my business is online selling and this will go viral,” the prober quoted Cruz as saying.
