(Eagle News) — For Senator Panfilo Lacson, Teodoro Locsin Jr. getting the confirmation of the Commission on Appointments as Foreign Affairs secretary will be “easier than singing in the shower.”
Lacson, chair of the foreign affairs panel, made the comment in a Tweet on Friday, Nov. 23, days before the CA was expected to take up Locsin’s appointment.
President Rodrigo Duterte handpicked Locsin to replace then-Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, who resigned to run for a seat in Congress in the 2019 elections.
Locsin was then serving as the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations.
Prior to Cayetano, Perfecto Yasay held the post but he was rejected by the CA.
Other Duterte appointees who were rejected by the CA were former Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, former Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez and former Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial.
Under the 1987 Constitution, the CA, which is mandated to approve or reject certain appointments made by the President, is composed of 25 members from Congress–the Senate president, who is the ex officio chairman, twelve senators, and twelve members of the House of Representatives.
The constitutional body has 23 standing committees.
