Dozens of appointments still hanging in Congress

MANILA, Philippines — Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian expressed concern on Sunday about the delay caused by the recent leadership impasse in the Senate, particularly the confirmation of eight Cabinet members and a backlog of military and diplomatic appointees.

Aside from pending legislation, no senators have been elected as members of the Commission on Appointments to act on appointments to the Cabinet and to the military and foreign services since January.

Eight Cabinet appointments remain unconfirmed:

• executive secretary
• secretary of the Department of Finance
• secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways
• secretary of the Department of Justice
• secretary of the Department of Budget and Management
• secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
• secretary of the Department of Transportation
• secretary Presidential Communications Office

Also unconfirmed are about 160 promotions and appointments in the military and foreign service, purportedly because the executive department has not submitted their appointment papers.

READ: Marcos hints at possible new Cabinet appointees

The delays appeared to have nothing to do with the reorganization drama on May 11 when Sen. Vicente Sotto III was ousted as Senate president. It appeared to be due to the inaction ahead of the sine die adjournment of the 20th Congress’ first regular session on June 5.

More confusion arose after presidential spokesperson Claire Castro suggested that President Marcos would be open to calling for a special session to tackle bills and appointments for a valid reason.

READ: Gatchalian yet to ask Marcos for special Senate session

Only the President is empowered to call a special session of Congress and does not require a “formal request” from any leader of Congress.

A lot on agenda

“We’re still laying out the things that need to be discussed during the special session, like the promotion of the five generals. That’s important to me… especially if you’ve been serving our country for a long time. There’s also a lot on our agenda,” he said in an interview with radio DZBB on Sunday.

But the matter involves not only the confirmation of five generals but also of dozens of military officers and appointments to the foreign service.

“That’s one of our concerns… these five generals who should be promoted, but they were not confirmed. If they go beyond their birthday, they can no longer be promoted. So it would be unfair to our generals who served our country and our people,” said Gatchalian in an earlier interview.

Apart from the generals’ confirmation, the senators are also reviewing the list of pending bills and appointments that may be discussed should the President call for a special session, he added.

Congress is scheduled to remain in recess until the start of the second regular session on July 26, the constitutional requirement for Congress to convene annually on the fourth Monday of July.

But the President may call Congress into a special session at any time to deal with urgent legislative measures or emergencies.

A special session is limited to a maximum period specified in the presidential proclamation, focusing strictly on the urgent legislation outlined in the call. /cb /atm