MANILA, Philippines – Following the failure of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to have her nomination confirmed on Wednesday, June 4, Malacañang said the deliberations of the Commission on Appointments (CA) must be based on merit alone and not other factors.

Presidential Spokersperson Edwin Lacierda said sometimes “the reasons for being bypassed may not necessarily be based on meritorious grounds.”

“What you would like to see on the deliberations of the Commission on Appointments is really a deliberation on the performance of a particular Cabinet secretary being confirmed,” he said.

“And I think it will be good if the deliberations will be focused on the competence, the performance of a Cabinet official, and not other extraneous matters that does not involve the competence or the performance of the Cabinet official.”

Earlier on Wednesday, De Lima faced the CA for her first confirmation hearing this Congress, where she was accused of being biased towards pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles, of receiving monthly allowances when she was still head of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) under the Arroyo administration, and of having “illicit affairs” with two men.

De Lima denied the allegations but admitted she is a “controversial public figure.” She also refused to respond on the accusation regarding her alleged affairs.

Her confirmation was opposed by former Siquijor congressman Orlando Fua, whistleblower Sandra Cam and private individual Virginia Libunao. Cam was the only oppositor who showed up at the hearing. 

The CA did not yet vote on De Lima’s confirmation because Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano still wants to ask questions next week.

The Palace said “there has been heat on the part of the Justice Secretary,” who has been investigating the multi-billion pork barrel scam, which involved the conniving of lawmakers and Napoles to funnel their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to the businesswoman’s bogus non-governmental organizations in exchange for hefty kickbacks.

The justice department’s probe has led to plunder charges against lawmakers including Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who was one of those who clashed with De Lima during the CA hearing, and accused her of receiving allowances worth millions of pesos.

“On whether she was able to answer all the concerns, I think two things: she came out and she was able to confidently respond to all those allegations, plus the fact that she is to going to submit a written reply on some of the allegations raised by Senator Jinggoy Estrada,” Lacierda said.

He also expressed confidence that if appointments were based completely on merit, there would be no problems since “Cabinet secretaries have not failed to perform what is expected from them.”

Lacierda also disagreed with a proposal during the Senate hearing to amend the rules, so that if the appointee has been bypassed 3 times, his appointment will be considered rejected.

“I think that would be limiting the power of the President to appoint. The President should have the free hand to appoint people who he believes are competent, that will further the public good,” he said.

“I hope they revisit that particular rule, considering the fact that the reasons for being bypassed may not necessarily be based on meritorious grounds, but may be based on some political [and] some grounds other than merit.” – Rappler.com