No new appointment for DENR chief?

Perhaps it was just an oversight, but President Duterte has not reappointed Gina Lopez as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Lopez’s name is not included in the list of 15 Cabinet reappointments Malacañang has submitted to the Commission on Appointments (CA) for confirmation or rejection.

The list includes controversial Secretary Arthur Tugade of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), whose performance, according to administration allies in the House of Representatives, has so far been unsatisfactory.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and other congressmen have said Tugade has failed to deliver on the President’s promise to improve traffic in Metro Manila and solve the problem of lack of vehicle license plates and driver’s license cards.

A transport group has filed with the CA an opposition to the DOTr chief’s appointment.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, who is CA majority leader, told The STAR yesterday that Lopez’s absence in the list of Cabinet members reappointed by the President “means that she was not reappointed.”

“The President can still issue her a new appointment, but that will be a regular and not an ad interim appointment, since Congress is already in session. That means that she cannot assume office until the CA confirms her,” he said.

Lopez has become controversial among mining companies due to her crusade against destructive mining.

She has padlocked a number of mining firms, including big ones, and has threatened to shut down others unless they abandon practices that destroy the environment.

Pro-environment groups had hailed her inclusion in Duterte’s Cabinet. She was among the first Cabinet officials the former Davao City mayor had chosen after he won the presidency in May.

Lopez is currently in Morocco as head of the Philippine delegation to a climate change conference.