When Gina Lopez was finally rejected as DENR Secretary by the
Commission on Appointments (CA), lots of conspiracy hypothesis were flying. And one thing I notice about these comments and
opinions is that it seems all of the people who spread such opinions did not watch the 2 1/2 hours CA hearing
of Gina last May 02, 2017.
I watched it in full and here are my impressions:
1. Simple questions answerable by Yes or No, Gina cannot
answer. Her mind and mouth is full of emotions, little or nothing on specifics,
numbers and law.
2. Three questions by Sen. Alan Cayetano: (a) how much of
total PH land area is actively mined, (b) beach resorts, how much of total
coastal land of the PH have beach resorts, (c) what are the standards and
criteria for her recent orders on mine closure — she could not answer.
3. Questions on land multiple titles involving DENR
corruption resulting in perennial land grabbing problem raised by 3
Congressmen, what she’s doing about it in her 10 months in office, she was
clueless, no specific answer, only generalized ones like “we are cleaning up
the department” or “we are computerizing things.” She can suspend or close down
many mining firms that follow certain regulations but she cannot suspend or
kick out any corrupt officials in her department the past 10 months.
4. Question on very dirty rivers like Marilao river,
Pasig river, she answered “structural problems” daw, despite heading the Pasig
river clean up commission. She has no specific plans to clean up these rivers.
5. Questions on unabated logging, she has no clear
answer.
6. Questions on legal basis, what existing laws, as basis
for her recent AOs (Administrative Orders) on P2M/hectare of “disturbed” agri
land as deposit — no answer. She argued “my prerogative” as Secretary. Congw. Josephine Sato who insisted on this
issue is very specific in her points — “we are a nation of laws, not of men”.
Our actions and policies should be based on existing laws, not on whims of
men/women leaders. Bright legislator.
DENR work is more than mining. She’s very hard-working,
very passionate, only in anti-mining campaigns. But she’s lazy on other
mandates of the DENR. Gina's big problem is her big ego.
I liked Congw. Sato’s rejection of Gina’s “my prerogative
as Secretary” answer to her question. Department Secretaries cannot legislate
on their own, otherwise Secretaries of DA, DOTC, DPWH, DSWD, DAR, etc. can just
issue dozens of AOs or Department circulars (DCS) creating new prohibitions and
regulations, new fines and penalties, new subsidies and entitlements — all
bypassing Congress as legislative body.
PDu30 made a mistake in appointing her as DENR Secretary
even without fully scrutinizing her work ethics, her technical skills. Du30 corrected
this mistake by not defending her at the CA.
People who oppose mining and argue “zero mining” are as
confused as the people who say “zero fossil fuel”. These people should be
riding bicycles or skateboards or just walking/running, or riding horses, cows,
ponies. They should not ride cars, jeeps, buses, airplanes, ships because all
these use fossil fuels 100%.
People who say “zero mining” don’t want to live in caves.
Even barong-barong use mining products like nails, hammer, saw, bolo, etc.
Hypocrisy always finds some scapegoats like the “oligarchs”, as if the Lopezes
are not oligarchs.
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Last Monday, May 08, former AFP Chief Roy Cimatu was
appointed as new DENR Secretary by President Duterte. A retired soldier, then
labor diplomat in the Middle East, and now a DENR chief.
Perhaps near-zero official experience in managing an
environment agency except in some tree planting activities of the AFP, his
appointment is a guessing game for many sectors under DENR supervision —
mining, forestry, solid waste, air pollution, coastal resources,
rivers/lakes/sea water quality, land titling, etc.
Since all Cabinet posts are political appointees of the
President, then it is assumed that the major policies of the appointed
Secretary are also the policies of the President.
I am not a fan of “good governance” in a BIG government
because it is a contradiction in terms. Big government almost always lead to
bad governance because government would over-extend its power of coercion. Like
creating a dozen new regulations on top of hundreds of regulations, laws and
prohibitions that are already in place. That is what former DENR Secretary Gina
Lopez did, creating new department regulations (administrative orders (AOs),
department circulars (DCs), etc.) that pile up new requirements on top of existing
ones, resulting in the closure and/or suspension of many mining firms.
The big question now is whether the new DENR Secretary
will focus on the rule of law, enforce existing laws and regulations before
creating new department orders or seek new laws in Congress. Like the laws
regulating small-scale mines and quarrying equally implemented as the laws
regulating large-scale metallic, non-metallic mines and quarrying.
This act alone of focusing on the rule of law will be a
big improvement in the department and in the national government as a whole. A
better situation of course is that many existing regulations that are “out of
tune” are abolished, or consolidated with others so that instead of having 10
“out of tunes” AOs, DCs and other department orders, they are consolidated into
one AO that is more “in tune” with the times.
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