Tag Archives: Commission on Appointments

Here’s the thing with DSWD Sec. Judy Taguiwalo’s pending confirmation at the Commission on Appointments: it makes no sense anymore to deny her this position, given that she has already been working the post for a year, has served in it effectively, with nary a controversy, no questions about her integrity, and having transformed our sense of what the Department of Social Work and Development is actually about.

It is relief goods and funds on-the-ready, in anticipation of that next storm. It’s the prompt release of goods for those affected by unexpected natural disasters. It’s assistance for families in idle and decrepit housing projects, for Lumad students camped out in UP, for the disenfranchised and hungry and in need in the Marawi evacuation centers. For once, DSWD is working at delivering services to the people it is supposed to serve, and there is little reason to believe any of this to be wrong — no matter what those Congressmen at the CA would like us to believe.

(more…)

It has become obvious after the fate of DENR Secretary Gina Lopez that President Duterte has no control over many things, and that neither his preferences nor his stand on issues is considered in the exercise of choosing who will run our government departments.

One hopes he realizes that the anti-Gina decision of the Commission on Appointments (CA) was an affront to him, especially given how he had supported her anti-irresponsible mining stand from the beginning. Ultimately, the CA put into question the President’s judgment, as they were ignoring his own stand against mining. Sure, they were questioning Sec. Gina’s competence; but that was just the smokescreen used by members of the House of Representatives to protect their mining interests – never mind that President Duterte was always very clear about how personal interests should not take precedence over public good.

Of course it might seem like it’s all water under the bridge now. But it isn’t, and it shouldn’t be. Especially given two more appointees who have yet to get the CA nod. (more…)