John Castriciones– INQUIRER PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC
A panel of the Commission on Appointments (CA) on Tuesday confirmed the appointment of Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones in spite of questions raised about his qualifications and accusations of union-busting and harassment of employees.
The CA’s committee on agrarian reform, chaired by Sen. Grace Poe, voted 13-2 in secret balloting to confirm Castriciones, who faced opposition from five agrarian reform leaders and advocates, including former Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor.
He will be officially confirmed during the CA’s plenary session on Wednesday, according to Poe.
During the hearing, the five who opposed his confirmation cast into doubt the fitness of Castriciones to lead the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), noting that he had little experience in agrarian reform. —DJ Yap