Reyes incompetent? Atienza unqualified? Miriam vows to block DOE appointment

BY JP LOPEZ

SEN. Miriam Defensor Santiago yesterday described Angelo Reyes as an "incompetent" member of the Cabinet and unfit to head the Department of Energy.
"I respectfully submit to President Arroyo that Reyes is simply the wrong, maybe the worst, choice. As an ex-general, he has lorded it over the various departments of defense, local governments, and environment without a demonstrably deep grasp of the issues involved in those offices. For him to continue in the Cabinet would be to indulge the incompetent," Santiago said.
The energy department is the fourth given to Reyes by President Arroyo. Reyes, a retired military general and former AFP chief who was instrumental in the ouster of President Joseph Estrada, was first given the defense portfolio then the interior department and third, the environment department.
President Arroyo named former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza as DENR chief.
Reyes said his record in the departments that he headed would speak for itself.
Reyes said that when he accepted his post as DENR secretary, he had no experience, and the same was true when he accepted his other posts.
"The first thing I do when I’m given a job over which I have no experience is I accept my ignorance then start to learn and gain experience and even master the craft," he said.
Santiago threatened to use her veto power in the Commission on Appointments if Reyes does not decline his new appointment. He was named to replace Raphael Lotilla who resigned.
"I am serving notice that I will invoke Section 20 of the CA Rules, which allows one member to veto any nomination. He is unfit… He should only hold a position that calls for military knowledge and training," Santiago said.
Ironically, Santiago is one of those calling for curbs on the exercise of Section 20 of the rules of the CA.
She said as a lawyer acquainted with energy law, "I had to educate myself for three years before I became familiar with this sunrise industry."
Santiago was chairman of the Senate energy committee and of the bicameral Joint Congressional Power Commission in the last three years.
Santiago blamed Reyes for the "unforgivable fiasco" regarding the grant of a DENR permit to a Korean firm planning to build a tourist spa near Taal volcano.
She said Reyes stopped the plan only after media exposed the brewing environmental scandal.
Santiago disagreed with Executive Secretary Ermita’s statement that Reyes did well at the DENR and his other prior posts.
"If he was doing good in all those departments, why was he kicked around like a political football? It only means he is surplusage in the Cabinet. Why is it is so important to accommodate him? There are dozens of available younger, brilliant civilians with expertise. Reyes is sentimental bric-a-brac who was washed ashore because of the turbulence of people power," she said.
Environment lawyers from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines said Arroyo was showing "bad environmental governance" in having five secretaries at the DENR in her six years in office.
Antonio Oposa Jr., chairman of the IBP-National Environmental Action, said the Arroyo administration is showing "cavalier treatment" of the Office of the DENR Secretary.
He said this results in "discontinuity of policy and programs" that the replaced secretaries had already started and is "symptomatic of the very low priority" given by the government to environmental protection.
Oposa is a UP- and Harvard-trained lawyer and author of books on environmental law and policy. He was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines Award for his work in the field of environmental enforcement as part of the group Tanggol Kalikasan.
"We do not question the qualification of Mr. Atienza to head the DENR; that will be treated in the confirmation proceedings. However, we take issue that changing secretaries almost every year is a grave abuse of that discretion," Oposa said.
Since 2001, the DENR has had five secretaries – Heherson Alvarez (March 2001-December 2002), Elisea Gozun (December 2002-August 2004), Michael Defensor (September 2004-February 2006), Angelo Reyes (February 2006 to present) and Atienza.
But Greenpeace campaigns director Von Hernandez said Atienza "does not have a significantly impressive track record on the environment" even during his stint as Manila mayor.
Under Atienza’s stewardship, Manila failed to effectively implement the Ecological Waste Management Act, he said.
"The appointment of Mr. Lito Atienza and Secretary Angelo Reyes to these important Cabinet portfolios demonstrates once again how the custody and safekeeping of the national patrimony is being parcelled out as payback for political fealty," he said.
Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan People’s-Network for the Environment, said Atienza lacked significant environmental initiatives.
"When he was mayor, Atienza approved the cutting of centuries-old trees in the Arroceros Forest Park, including ancient narra, molave, balete, rubber and acacia trees. Do we really want such a person as Environment Secretary?" he said.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Atienza is qualified and capable of addressing whatever misgivings some groups have.
"The President is very confident that he will be able to fully discharge his duties and responsibilities as secretary of environment and as a member of her official family," he said.
President Arroyo ordered Reyes to prioritize the privatization of several energy assets, including the generation and transmission assets of the National Power Corp.
Arroyo, at the opening of the Luzon Urban Beltway Infrastructure Conference at the Subic Bay International Airport Terminal Lounge at the Subic Freeport Zone, also said she would ask Congress to prioritize the amendment of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira).
The President said her two directives are part of efforts to lower the cost of electricity.
She said Luzon needs at least 150 megawatts of additional power by 2010. While this could be covered by the $350 million expansion of Pagbilao plant by Marubeni and Tokyo Electric that would account for an additional 350 megawatts, she said power rates remain high.