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By Efren L. Danao Senior
Reporter
The Commission on Appointments
confirmed Wednesday the ad-interim reappointment of three Cabinet
secretaries and 83 military officers before going on a Christmas
break.
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro
Jr., Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral and Trade Secretary
Peter Favila hurdled the confirmation process with virtually no
opposition to their reappointment.
On the other hand, the ad-interim
reappointments of nine Cabinet secretaries were bypassed. They are
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser
Pangandaman, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., Environment and
Natural Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza, Local Government
Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, Finance
Secretary Margarito Teves, Health Secretary Francisco Duque and
Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.
Rep. Prospero Nograles Jr. of
Davao City, vice-chairman of the appointments body, said he hopes
that the bicameral body would fast-track the confirmation of the
nine next year. He lauded the Commission on Appointments under
Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. for confirming three Cabinet
secretaries, a member of the Judicial and Bar Council, eight
ambassadors and consuls, and 185 military officers since its
organization in August 2007.
Teodoro, a three-term congressman
from Tarlac, topped the Bar in 1989 and earned his Master of Laws
degree at Harvard. He is the only child of former Social Security
System Chairman Gilbert Teodoro and the former Constitutional
Convention delegate and former Batasan Pambansa member Mercedes
Cojuangco-Teodoro. He is a colonel in the Philippine Air Force
reserve.
Rep. Rodolfo Albano 3rd of
Isabela, chairman of the appointment body’s Committee on National
Defense, said Teodoro had championed the cause of soldiers during
his three terms as congressman.
Sen. Manuel Roxas 2nd said
Teodoro had very clear-sighted thinking on legal matters, but what
qualifies him most for the position is his judgment “which will
serve him, the establishment and the nation in good stead.”
Cabral, a noted cardiologist, was
former director of the Philippine Heart Center. She was described by
Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago as “one of the top 10 out of 88
million Filipinos.”
“That’s why she is one of my
best friends,” she said in her nomination speech.
Sen. Richard Gordon said Cabral
is “a woman for all seasons.”
“She is my cardiologist, as
well as of Senator Santiago. If she can handle two personalities
like us, then she must be a very capable individual,” Gordon said
joking.
The 83 military officers
confirmed were led by Lt. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang and Maj. Gen.
Salvador Collantes, head of the National Defense College. The
remaining 82 officers were colonels. The commission’s Committee on
National Defense deferred its consideration of the promotion of
Brig. Gen. Jonathan Martir, Col. Arthur Abadilla and Col. Jesus
Anquilo.
Martir reportedly drew the ire of
some opposition senators in the Commission on Appointments for
allegedly “manhandling” Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th after the
Manila Peninsula standoff.
Gordon opposed the confirmation
of Anquilo upon representation of one Bernadette Gay-a, widow of a
Lt. Jeremy Gay-a who once served under Anquilo. The widow claimed
that her late husband, who was a witness in a malversation case
against Anquilo, fell from a cliff during an operation, and that
Anquilo did nothing for about 24 hours to rescue him, causing his
death.
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