PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte advised Environment Secretary Gina Lopez to give elbow room in her strict policies and crackdown on unsafe mining while defending Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade amid criticisms over the latter’s failure to resolve traffic situation in the metropolis.
In his speech before businessmen at Malacanang, Duterte also expressed concern that two of his Cabinet Secretaries—Lopez and Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial—were still unconfirmed by the powerful Commission on Appointments.
“I do not think she would ever get the confirmation. But Gina, in the meantime, let us just concede good faith in her. I hope she would listen to Jacinto,” Duterte said, referring to Mines and Geosciences Bureau chief Mario Luis Jacinto.
Duterte admitted that while he doesn’t want to intrude into Lopez’s decisions in handling the Environment Department, he hoped his alter-ego would listen to critics.
“I don’t know about, you know, Gina because she has her own mind. I would not want to intrude into her [decisions]…You know, Jacinto was a Bureau of Mines director of Region 11 [during my time as Davao mayor,] he added.
Jacinto, a former chief of the regional as well as the Davao City environment and natural resources office, assists Lopez in reviewing mining permits.
Many from the mining industry have expressed disapproval of Lopez’s mining audits even on legitimate mining firms.
Duterte also defended Tugade, his classmate at the San Beda College of Law in Mendiola amid criticisms he had failed to resolve traffic in the Metro Manila.
Duterte said he did not understand why some people do not like Tugade, whom he described as a “good man.”
“They do not like Tugade. He’s the valedictorian of our class. He’s a good man,” Duterte told businessmen.
Elsewhere in the metropolis, the powerful Commission on Appointmens confirmed the nomination of Tugade, who sought support in his promise to address the country’s worsening traffic condition, and two other Cabinet officials as well as 22 diplomats including the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations.
The two others who got the nod of the CA were Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar and Interior and Local Government Secretary Mike Sueno.
Former Makati congressman, lawyer-journalist Teodoro Locsin was confirmed as the Philippines permanent representative to the United Nations.
The confirmation of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol was deferred after it was blocked by Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Ramirez Sato.
Facing the confirmation hearing at the CA’s committee on transportation and communications, Tugade said, “I come here today with a pledge … Give me your trust and support and my way of gratitude and my way of saying thank you is, I will not fail you.”
He also begged for more time to address the problem, stressing the traffic problem could not be solved overnight or in just six months.
“Give me more time. It’s just six months. I didn’t say that in 100 days, I will solve the traffic problem. I’m not that excellent,” he said.
He said it was not right to say he had done nothing in six months while at the helm of the Department of Transportation.
On the other hand, Tugade said he could not claim either that he had done something substantial to address the traffic problem.
On Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri’s motion, the committee recommended Tugade’s confirmation.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson earlier appealed to his counterparts in the House of Representatives not to derail Villar’s confirmation after the bicameral conference committee adopted his (Lacson’s) proposal to remove the P8.3-billion transfer of funds from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to the DPWH.
The fund transfer was provided for in the House version of the proposed P3.35-trillion national budget.
“I’d like to appeal to our counterparts in the House that he has nothing to do with the amendments that I introduced and (that) was accepted by the Senate panel.”
Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on finance, supported Lacson’s appeal, and described Villar as young and competent, who deserves to be confirmed by the CA.
In supporting the nomination of Villar, Recto said he would serve with the highest ethical standards. “He will avoid moral hazards. He will not sully the family name.”
“And he will adhere to the above while ensuring that projects are done on budget, on specs, and on schedule. He will prove that transparency need not drag efficiency. That good governance does not impede early delivery.
“He knows about this because his experience in building edifices has told him the lesson that letting sunlight in results in better and sturdier infrastructure,” Recto added.
Duterte had called for responsible mining and a balanced policy on mining, reminding mining firms to follow Australian and Canadian mining standards.
“My office is always receptive to any abuse of authority or if we exceeded the normal limitations of our discretion. And I will see to it that everything is fair,” he said.