Duterte avenges rejection of Lopez by CA

President Duterte took an oblique swipe at the bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) when he repeatedly attacked mining firms for destroying the environment.

Digong was clearly getting back at the CA for rejecting Gina Lopez’s appointment as environment secretary.

She was replaced by a military man with no background on environmental protection.

Many of the CA members have interests in mining or have relatives and friends involved in the industry.

One Cabinet official, who was present at the Sona, appeared before the CA as a resource person for the mining industry. This person, who has a brother-in-law engaged in mining, was probably squirming in his seat.

Another guy who was probbably uncomfortable during President Digong’s Sona was a Metro Manila congressman who unashamedly opposed Gina’s appointment.

This congressman’s brother is in the mining business.

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The President said the war on drugs would continue to be “unremitting” and “unrelentless.”

The “gates of hell” await those who continue to be involved in the illegal drug trade, he warned.

The President should take a long, hard look at the situation in Catanduanes where two officials — Gov. Joseph Cua and Virac Mayor Samuel Laynes — are accused of being involved in the manufacture of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu.”

If the accusation against them, which is backed by records at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, is true, they are much worse than Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa and his son, Kerwin.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has ordered an investigation into the allegations against the two officials.

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Kudos to the National Bureau of Investigation for solving the P2.5-billion theft of depositors’ money at Metrobank with the arrest of Maria Victoria Lopez, one of the bank’s vice presidents.

True to form, NBI investigators traced the disbursement of loans by Lopez to fictitious accounts created in the name of Universal Robina Corp., the bank’s biggest corporate client.

And yet, NBI Director Dante Gierran, who should be strutting like a peacock over his bureau’s feat, does not even want to be interviewed by media.

Gierran, a lawyer-accountant, wants to remain low-key.

“Trabaho lang, bai (We’re just doing our job),” the NBI chief, a Davaoweno, told this columnist.

He is so unlike a fellow Davaoweño who trumpets his accomplishments because he has an eye on the Senate.