Curious about bypass of Cabinet appointments
CA (Commission on Appointments) bypasses Paje, Soliman, De Lima, Petilla—headline news.
In all likelihood, Petilla’s chances before the Commission on Appointments has even grown dimmer following the widespread public impression that the incompetence of the Department of Energy, as well as of the Energy Regulatory Commission, has something to do with the unprecedented, very steep rise in Meralco’s power rates.
On the other hand, that the appointment of three other Cabinet officials, all named soon after President Aquino assumed office, up to now remains hanging cannot but raise a number of questions. Are they really so good in their respective fields as to be downright indispensable? Are they that “lakas-kabayo” with President Aquino that he no longer cares being perceived a lame duck as far as the three are concerned? What “sins” might have they committed to any, or some, of the lawmakers to be continually sneezed at? Or isn’t the President, for his part, just becoming so extremely self-righteous as to re-issue their appointments every time they are bypassed? Or maybe, the CA has simply grown unnecessarily quite partisan; which, in turn, does not rightly serve the very reason for its constitutional creation. I am sure several other curious questions do reside and are aching for honest answers in other people’s minds regarding this matter.
Without intriguing, or commenting, on the relative competencies or incompetence of these Cabinet secretaries, methinks it is high time the executive or the legislative learned to yield to the other.
—RUDY L. CORONEL,
