COMMISSION ON APPOINTMENTS URGED TO ADOPT POLICY FOR NON-REAPPOINTMENTS OF BYPASSED CABINET MEMBERS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today backed a proposal in the Commission on Appointments for Cabinet members not to be reappointed anymore after they have been repeatedly bypassed by the Commission on Appointments.

Pimentel urged the CA to adopt the suggestion of Davao Rep. Prospero Nograles, Commission vice-chairman, that Cabinet members who have been bypassed by the Commission at least twice should no longer be reappointed by the President.

The so-called "two-strike" policy broached by Nograles means that Cabinet members who were bypassed by the Commission twice are deemed rejected by the bicameral appointments body after they underwent the confirmation hearings.

"The proposal of Congressman Nograles for the President to scuttle the appointments of Cabinet members who do not get confirmed by the Commission on Appointments is a good move," the minority leader said.

"However, it would even be better if being repeatedly bypassed by the CA should cause the President to reconsider the appointments concerned. Like what they do in the United States, being bypassed by the US Senate body, which is equivalent of our CA, almost automatically causes the US president to consider the appointment withdrawn."

Pimentel said that kind of arrangement strengthens the rule of law and the system of checks and balances, two concepts without which the democratic system cannot survive.

Usually, Cabinet members and other presidential appointees are bypassed because the CA is not convinced of their qualifications and fitness for the job or they have failed to submit documentary requirements on time.

Senate President Manuel Villar, ex-officio chairman, has warned that failure of Cabinet members to submit documentary requirements within the prescribed period without sufficient justification is a ground for rejection.