Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 28) — The Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of the secretaries of the Foreign Affairs and Budget departments.
In separate hearings, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and Budget chief Amenah Pangandaman faced the members of the CA.
During the CA foreign affairs committee’s deliberation on his appointment, Manalo committed to protect the country’s sovereignty and vowed to challenge any foreign power’s claim to Philippine territory.
Manalo said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will continue to file diplomatic protests against Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea. He added they will continue raising such issues during bilateral meetings with China and negotiating with other claimant states for a code of conduct for the contested waters.
He also proposed a whole-of-government approach on studying the implications of a recent French arbitral court ruling on Sabah, where the tribunal ordered Malaysia to pay around $15 billion to the heirs of the last Sultan of Sulu.
The Philippines has a long-standing claim to Sabah, having presented itself as the successor state of the Sultanate of Sulu. Earlier, the Office of the Solicitor General said it is already studying the implications of the ruling, but Manalo said other agencies — including the DFA — may also be convened to analyze the matter.
During the hearing, Manalo also maintained he is capable of performing duties expected of him after Rep. Johnny Pimentel raised concern about his age and medical history.
Pimentel, noting Manalo’s current and previous medical records, said the DFA official has a condition “in which the airways and air sacs in the lung collapse or do not expand properly,” as well as hypertension, among other health issues.
“I think in some of those cases, the doctor told me that some of them were medically insignificant,” Manalo said. “Of course, I’ve had cases of hypertension but that is under control. And I believe that I would be in a very good position to undertake my functions.”
Meanwhile, members of the budget and management panel expressed their support for the appointment of Pangandaman.
Senator Loren Legarda even attested to the Budget chief’s competence, noting how well the latter performed when they worked together in the upper chamber with Pangandaman as her staff.
Pangandaman was also questioned by some lawmakers regarding her stand on several issues, like the possible abolition of the controversial Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management.
“I defer to the good judgment and wise judgment of the Congress. But if you will give us a chance… if we can work in some reforms with help from GPPB [Government Procurement Policy Board] and we have a new executive director now who is a budget procurement practitioner and advocate maybe we can improve the system of our procurement especially with PS-DBM,” she pointed out.
Pangandaman also committed to implement several reforms in the department, like utilizing digitalization in the DBM’s processes, holding biddings online, as well as a system that will not allow government agencies to download budget if a specific program cannot be completed to prevent “parked” funds.
The DBM chief said they are also in the process of working on amending Executive Order 138 that transferred some of the national government’s functions to local government units (LGU), essentially implementing the Mandanas-Garcia ruling.
“The basic concept of the amendment is to extend the devolution until 2025 para [so] we can still capacitate LGUs that are still not able to come up with projects that they think will help their municipality or their town,” she explained.
Pangandaman also supports the amendment of the Procurement Law. The DBM will be requesting technical assistance from the World Bank regarding this, she added.
During the plenary session, the CA also approved the appointment of 23 other officials of the DFA, which includes the country’s ambassadors to other countries, as well as Nesauro Hernandez Firme as member of the Judicial and Bar Council representing the academe.
