Watching the President
July 30 to August 5, 2010
Congress
The LP in the Senate
The distribution of committee chairmanship in the Senate has caused a great deal of unrest in the upper chamber. Today, Sen. Franklin Drilon, the Liberal Party (LP) president, chairs the powerful finance committee while LP Sen. Francis Pangilinan heads the committee on agriculture. LP Junior Sen. Teofisto Guingona chairs the blue ribbon committee which handles inquiries into corruption cases. Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, not an LP member but backed Aquino in the May 10 elections, chairs the committee on energy as well as the committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies. LP Sen. Ralph Recto chairs the ways and means committee as well the committee on government corporations and enterprises.
The bloc of Sen. Edgardo Angara (LDP) yielded the committee on finance to Drilon. Apparently, this broke the deadlock between the NP and LP. The members of Angara’s bloc are settled in some committees, some of them key.
The Senate, still headed by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile,(PMP), is now torn between taking the course of “crtitical collaboration” with the administration and asserting the Senate's historical role as a critic (Amando Doronila of PDI, August 3).
With the uneven distribution of political parties in the Senate (23 members),it is hard to the say that the President’s group, LP, can maintain a strong clout in the Senate to ensure the smooth passage of legislations preferred by the presidential office. A coalition of votes, defined by compromises and trade-offs, is what the LP members can count on at least for the moment.
Angara: GMA’s Senate rear guards vs Aquino III
Sen. Edgardo Angara (PMP) and Sen. Joker Arroyo (Lakas-Kampi-CMD) objected to President Benigno Aquino III's instruction to the justice department to review the Oakwood mutiny case against Sen. Antonio Trillanes (Independent). The Oakwood mutiny (July 2003) led by then Navy officer Trillanes resulted in the arrest and filing of charges against its leaders and followers, with Trillanes still detained today. Angara and Joker Arroyo had been erstwhile political allies of the beleaguered president then, Gloria M. Arroyo.
Some quarters have backed the reinvestigation of the Trillanes case by the justice department. Being under the executive department, the justice department’s reinvestigation may not qualify as an encroachment of the judicial and legislative powers. (Report from Jose Osias of PDI, August 4)
Questions have arisen whether the reinvestigation was a step to court the support of Trillanes for the LP in the Senate. Whatever the results of the reinvestigation that may lead to his eventual release would allow the senator to spend the rest of his term in the Senate itself.
AFP-PNP
PNP chief to retire early
Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Jesus Verzosa is expected to retire from the service in two months which is ahead of his scheduled retirement in December this year. Verzosa's classmates in the PMA Class ‘76 who occupy key positions in the PNP will also retire earlier than the mandatory age of retirement for police officers.
PNP Deputy Director General Jefferson Soriano was also expected to retire early to allow younger officers to lead the police force (Report from Cecile Suerte Felipe of Phil. Star, Aug 5).
Verzosa, an appointee of the former President, had earlier been reported to have stood his guard against military partisanship in the last May elections. He thus earned his right to stay in the PNP directorship. The early retirement of PNP officials will allow the executive office, through the interior and local government department, to choose its own officials.
Cabinet and other appointments
Aquino III voids GMA’s ‘midnight’ appointments
President Aquino III issued Executive Order 2 voiding all appointments made by former President Gloria M. Arroyo during the election ban period. EO2 empowers Aquino to recall, withdraw, and revoke all appointments made by Arroyo.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa said there are about 977 appointments made by Arroyo before the March 10, 2010 deadline. This, in effect, left the new administration with no room to apply its prerogative to make such appointments.
He added that EO 2 might cover not just the executive branch but even the judiciary for some justices and court judges were appointed during the election ban. This is with the exception of Chief Justice Renato Corona. (Report from Aytch dela cruz and Gerry Baldo of The Daily Tribune, August 5)
With the signing of EO 2, clear guidelines were given as to who would be considered appointed illegally. Now, the only question left is how long will it take for the administration to implement the order and how long will it take for them to appoint new officials in the posts that would be left vacant. Unless the vacancies are filled up soon, with qualified personnel, it would cause some gridlocks in the transition.
Truth Commission
Opposition quizzes legality of Truth Commission
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the formation of the Truth Commission may be constitutionally- infirmed because: (1) the creation and funding of offices and commissions is a legislative power of Congress; (2) the equal protection clause of the Constitution may be violated by targeting a specific group of officials for investigation; (3) and the Truth Commission duplicates the constitutional mandate of the Office of the Ombudsman as well as the statutory jurisdiction of the Department of Justice.
Lagman, an ally of former President now congresswoman Gloria M. Arroyo explained that the Agrava Board or Commission under Marcos and the PCGG and CHR under former President Corazon Aquino were created by legislative authorization. Both presidents exercised legislative power under martial law and the revolutionary government, respectively.
Lagman added that while Aquino announced that he wants speedy closure on the misdeeds of the previous administration, he gave the Commission 29 months (up to December 2012) to accomplish its mission. The House Representatives also noted that the appropriation language of Section 11 of EO 1 lacks particularity and transparency because no specific amount is appropriated. The order states that the Office of the President shall provide the funds for the Commission but the definitive source of the funds was not identified (Report from Charlie Manalo of The Daily Tribune, August 1).
The Truth Commission can only perform its functions well if all allegations of legal infirmities are addressed. The paramount question, however, is will the new body go into the bottom of the corruption cases linking Mrs. Arroyo thus leading to the prosecution of the culprits and be an instrument for curbing corruption in the high offices of the bureaucracy?
Issues
SC Ruling puzzles Luisita workers
Leaders of the Hacienda Luisita farmers in Tarlac were perplexed as to why the Supreme Court has given priority to a labor question that had been settled four years ago. The acting president of the United Luisita Workers, Lito Bais, said the adjustments in the 13th month pay for more than 300 members of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union were given in 2006, two years after CATLU went on strike over a new collective bargaining agreement.
The SC, in a July 26 decision, ruled against the Central Azucarera de Tarlac in a case involving the claims of its employees against the company’s reduced computation of the 13th month pay. The employees won a favorable decision from the NLRC in 2008 which was upheld by the Court of Appeals.
Bais said the SC should have instead acted on the long standing petition of the ULWU to revoke the restraining order the high court issued in 2005. The land conflict should have been addressed first, Bais added (Report from Tonette Orejas and Donna Pazzibugan).
The whole country is waiting for the move of Aquino with regards to the land dispute in the hacienda. If it would be remembered, he promised to distribute the lands during his campaign. Although he gave a 5-year period allotment, it is expected that he will act upon this in the soonest possible time.(With notes by Joanne Lara)