Appointment to city council valid

This concerns the column of Atty. Pachico A. Seares (Opinion, Oct. 6, 2017). Actually, no violation of the Local Government code was commited in my appointment as member of the Sangguniang Panlungsod in Lapu-Lapu City signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on Sept. 4, 2017. My appointment was perfectly valid. It was supported by the following:

--Death certificate of Damian T. Gomez proving his death on March 2, 2017; --Certificate of candidacy of the late Damian Gomez under the Liberal Party (LP); --My resume containing my humble qualifications; --Certificate of LP membership and nomination for appointment, both issued by LP president and Sen. Francis Pangilinan on June 13, 2017;

–-Certification dated Aug. 8, 2017 by LP secretary general Rep. Jose Christopher Y. Belmonte that the highest official of the LP is its president;

--Certification of membership and nomination for appointment, both signed by LP chairman and Vice President of the Philippines Ma. Leonor G. Robredo also signed on June 13, 2017.

Section 45, paragraph 1 (b) of the Local government Code was therefore duly complied with through LP president Pangilinan’s certificate of my membership and certification of his nomination of my humble self.

Section 3 of Memorandum Circular no. 126, Series of 2006 issued by then Executive Secretary Eduardo R. Ermita on Dec. 6, 2006 was also properly observed by the certificate of membership and certificate of nomination both dated June 13, 2017 issued by LP chairman and Vice President Robredo.

On the basis of the foregoing nad pursuant to Section 45, paragraph 1 (b) of the Local government Code (Lapu-Lapu City being a highly urbanized city), the President, through the Executive Secretary, validly issued my appointment on Sept. 4, 2017.--

Atty. Jeannify Tan-Dungog, SP member, Lapu-Lapu City On confirmation of Cimatu’s appointment

The speedy confirmation of ex-general Roy Cimatu as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) means the big business plunderers and polluters have found their right man for the agency.

Not a single mining oligarch in Congress, especially in the Commission on Appointments, grilled Cimatu on his track record of corruption and human rights violation. A case of shared values, it seems.

Cimatu’s confirmation is the biggest and clearest stamp of approval the Duterte government can give to him. It means the Duterte government approves of Cimatu’s reversal of Lopez’s stringent regulation on land reclamation, much to the chagrin of poor fisherfolk, coastal communities, and biodiversity conservationists.

It means the Duterte regime’s official policy on mining is to eat all its rhetoric on cracking down on irresponsible large-scale miners.

We did not see President Duterte exercising his political will against these steps taken by Cimatu that run counter to his pronouncements of protecting the environment. It means Duterte’s firebrand rhetoric is just a case of empty populism.--