(Updated) PNoy to submit for CA confirmation Roxas as local government secretary and Abaya as transportation secretary: Distinction between a regular appointment and an ad interim appointment
PNoy will forthwith submit the nominations of transportation secretary Mar Roxas as local government secretary and Cavite Rep. Jun Abaya as transportation secretary to the Commission on Appointments for confirmation.
Upon announcing their appointment, the President fielded questions from the media and said, “They cannot sit in their respective posts until they are confirmed …Congress is in session so we cannot make an ad interimappointment. This is why we are asking the CA to act on these appointments immediately.” (ANC News)
The following are the pertinent provisions of the Constitution:
“Art. VII. Section 16. The President shall nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, appoint the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, or officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, and other officers whose appointments are vested in him in this Constitution. He shall also appoint all other officers of the Government whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by law, and those whom he may be authorized by law to appoint. The Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of other officers lower in rank in the President alone, in the courts, or in the heads of departments, agencies, commissions, or boards.
“The President shall have the power to make appointments during the recess of the Congress, whether voluntary or compulsory, but such appointments shall be effective only until disapproved by the Commission on Appointments or until the next adjournment of the Congress.”
The first sentence provides: : “shall nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, appoint…”
The appointments do not take effect unless “consented to” by the Commission on Appointments.
The second paragraph provides: “shall have the power to make appointments during the recess.. shall be effective only until disapproved by the Commission on Appointments or until the next adjournment…”
In other words, when Congress is not in session, the chief executive has more leeway in the sense that the “appointee” can start working but is an “unconfirmed” appointee or he/she has to go to the trouble of going back to the Commission on Appointment for confirmation (an ad interim appointment).
For purposes of academic discussion, the following news feature from the archives of Vera Files illustrates the distinction between a regular appointment and an ad interim appointment:
“ Robredo no longer ‘acting’ DILG secretary, gets regular appointment from Aquino June 27, 2011/ By Ellen Tordesillas. After almost a year, President Benigno Aquino III has decided that he can work with Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, whom he is keeping in the Cabinet and to whom he is finally handing over supervision of the Philippine National Police.
“Last June 13, Aquino issued Robredo, who assumed the post in an acting capacity, an “ad interim” appointment.
“The appointment elevates Robredo to the status of full-fledged secretary, with Malacanang finally submitting his name to the Commission on Appointments for confirmation once Congress reopens in July.
“ `We confirm that last June 13, President Aquino issued an ad interim appointment to Mr. Jesse Robredo as secretary of Interior and Local Government,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a text message in answer to VERA Files’ query about Robredo’s change of official status.
“Lacierda also confirmed that the PNP will now come under Robredo’s supervision.
“Ad interim appointments are issued when Congress is not in session to allow the official to legally perform his duties until the Commission on Appointments confirms or bypasses the appointment. The first regular session of the 15th Congress adjourned on June 8. It will resume for its second regular session on July 25.
“Aquino came under fire after VERA Files revealed last year that Robredo, despite his credentials, was excluded from the first batch of appointments Aquino made at the start of his administration on June 30, 2010. Aquino appointed Robredo in an acting capacity on July 9, 2010, but did not give him control over the PNP. xxx ”
Update: Search for Jesse Robredo & pilots: Of brave & tireless divers; deeper, more focused dives; additional sonars; infrared; hoping for the Orion
From Yahoo Philippines: “Rescuers are focusing their search on an area 5 kilometers by 2 kilometers, with depths ranging from “ `30 meters to around 300 feet (91.44 meters)’, he (Trade Secretary Mar Roxas, the designated spokesperson) said. On his Twitter account, Roxas announced that divers will dive to around 250-300 feet on Monday. He said equipment and a decompression chamber from the Philippine Coast Guard will be ready for deeper dives.” (Yahoo Philippines at ph.yahoo.com)
From Mar Roxas: “Update 2200-last diver while at 150ft saw metallic parts with letterings at deeper levels.Sonars, are 2 now will focus on this area” (twitter.com/MARoxas)
[blog admin: In long-hand, that is: “The last diver while at a depth of 150 feet, saw metallic parts with letterings at deeper levels. There are now two sonars being used, and we will focus on this area.” (long-hand of Mar Roxas’s tweet)]
From inquirer.net: “Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesperson, said “big fishing boats with powerful lights helped in the search, trying to locate the plane’s wreckage,” but they had “no success so far.” xxx“We gave the grid coordinates of the crash site to our American counterpart,” Balilo said. “We hope they can dispatch today one of their Lockheed P3 Orion aircraft to help in the search for the missing plane.” (inquirer.net)
What is the Lockheed P3 Orion?
Aeroflight Co. of the United Kingdom says that the Orion has a 360° search radar, acoustic and non-acoustic sensors, magnetic anomaly detector, etc. It’s a “(l)and-based, long range, anti-submarine warfare patrol and anti-surface warfare aircraft. xxx Update … in 1977 included an infrared detection system, a sonobuoy reference system, the Harpoon anti-ship missile and 28-channel magnetic tape recorder/reproducer. xxx The ASW variants have a comprehensive suite of communications, navigation, acoustic and non-acoustic sensors, and data-processing equipment. The Orion’s capability has been greatly increased during its operational life, IFF interrogator, LTN-72 INS, Doppler navigation radar, 360° search radar, MAD, AN/AQA-7 Direction Low-Frequency Analyzer and Ranging (DIFAR) system and chin mounted FLIR.” (from aeroflight.co.uk)
“The current fleet is armed with a variety of sensors for detecting and locating enemy submarines and ships, torpedoes, mines, depth charges, and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. xxx In recent years, older P-3 airframes have also been adapted to a variety of other tasks, including the P-3AEW&C airborne radar platform used by US Customs to combat drug trafficking and the EP-3E Aries intelligence aircraft used to monitor communications and electronic emissions. xxx Estimated cost (of the Orion): $36 million.” (from aerospace.org at aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/maritime/p3/index.shtml)
From Mar Roxas 15 seconds ago: “US plane wid FLIR, forward looking infra red, also did flyby passes.” (twitter.com/MARoxas) In long-hand, that is: “A U.S. plane with FLIR, or Forward-Looking Infrared devices, also did fly-by passes.”
