All four Liberal Party (LP) senators voted in favor of the appointment of outgoing Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, the party disclosed on Wednesday.
The four are Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senators Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan and Bam Aquino. Pangilinan is party president.
READ: CA rejects Taguiwalo’s appointment
The LP said it was “ironic” that allies of the administration rejected President Rodrigo Duterte’s appointee.
“As Senator Ralph Recto said, her ‘guts and grit’ and her experience fighting the Marcos dictatorship, including time as political prisoner in three jails, should have made her confirmation automatic,” the LP said in a statement.
The party said the Duterte administration has also lost a “committed Cabinet official” with the CA’s rejection of Taguiwalo’s appointment.
In Taguiwalo’s 14 months as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) secretary, the LP said they had seen her continue former President Benigno Aquino III’s conditional cash transfer program which, the party said, benefited 4.4 million Filipino families.
“Echoing the Liberal Party position and contrary to the pronouncements of the President and the actions of his allies in Congress, she has also voiced her opposition to lowering the age of criminal liability of minors,” the LP said.
The Commission on Appointments, in an executive session this Wednesday afternoon, unanimously rejected Taguiwalo’s appointment. IDL