Gina Lopez CA confirmation set back further

Whether or not the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Gina Lopez will ever get the confirmation she needs from the Commission on Appointments (CA) in order to keep her cabinet position will remain unresolved until May. This, as Lopez takes a few weeks of leave to go on a retreat overseas. Lopez said the public hearing on her reappointment will be pushed back to May 3 as opposed to its new schedule, which is supposed to be on Wednesday, due to time constraints. “(It will be on) May 3 because I’m leaving the country on March 10,” Lopez told reporters. “If I’ll have it on Wednesday and there’s 19 oppositors, it might not finish so I asked them to make it in May.” At least 19 groups and individuals have formally opposed the appointment of Lopez, while there are just about 10 groups that have expressed their support for her. The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), which is composed of some of the country’s biggest miners, is one of the most outspoken groups that said they don’t want Lopez to be appointed as DENR secretary. (MBM)