MANILA: The Commission on Appointments (CA) hopes to tackle the appointments of four Cabinet members once Congress resumes session on the third week of the New Year.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, CA chairman, said they will squeeze into the remaining nine session days of the 15th Congress the hearings on the appointments of Secretaries Leila de Lima Justice, Dinky Soliman of Social Welfare and Development, Carlos Jericho Petilla of Energy, and Ramon Jesus Paje of Environment and Natural Resources.
Three years since President Aquino assumed office, De Lima and Soliman have yet to hurdle the CA. Enrile is confident the CA body will be able to approve the appointments of the four Cabinet secretaries before the election campaign starts in February.
Congress will return from its Christmas break on January 21 and go on a long recess again in February to pave way for the campaign period for the May elections.
On legislation, Enrile said the Senate will be able to act on pending bills like the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the Anti-Trust law.
Enrile hopes that the House of Representatives will act on the Freedom of Information Act, which the Senate has approved on third and final reading last month. Sen Gregorio Honasan, Senate committee on mass media and public information chairman, sponsored the bill’s Senate version, the People’s Ownership of Government Information (POGI) Act.
Enrile said the Senate will also focus on wrapping up its probe on the presidential bridges program and on the rice smuggling activities at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
Charter change will have to wait until the start of the 16th Congress as no time is left before the elections, he added.
Enrile expects a change in the political landscape in the Senate after the elections, since a new batch of 12 senators will be elected.
He is optimistic that Senators Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, Gregorio Honasan, Aquilino Pimentel III and Alan Peter Cayetano will be re-elected to the 16th Congress.
Enrile is also hopeful for the return of former senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Richard Gordon.
Enrile’s son, Cagayan Rep. Jack Enrile, and San Juan Rep. Juan Victor Estrada, a son of former President Joseph Estrada, are also running under the United Nationalist Alliance, along with former Senate president Ernesto Maceda, and Vice President Jejomar Binay’s daughter, Nancy.
Aurora Rep Juan Edgardo Angara, son of Senator Edgardo Angara, is running under the administration coalition.
The Philippine Star
