THE congressional Commission on Appointments (CA) is all set to resume consideration of the ad interim appointment of Hans Leo Cacdac as Secretary of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
“Secretary Cacdac will face the CA’s committee on labor, employment, social welfare, and migrant workers for the second time on Tuesday, August 20,” Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said in a statement on Monday.
The CA panel is chaired by Negros Occidental Rep. Mercedes Alvarez.
Four individuals – Ferdinand Delos Reyes, Roberto Tan, Tirso Paglicawan Jr., and Jinalyn Narciso – have lodged “sworn oppositions” to Cacdac’s appointment, according to Pimentel, the CA’s assistant minority leader.
Pimentel did not disclose the nature of the oppositions filed under oath against Cacdac.
“In the spirit of fairness, the objections would be best ventilated at the hearing, where Secretary Cacdac can answer them directly,” Pimentel said.
Cacdac, 56, was previously bypassed by the CA when the Alvarez panel first met on May 23 and deferred consideration of his original appointment due to lack of material time.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reappointed Cacdac as DMW head the following day.
The Alvarez panel was supposed to take up Cacdac’s reappointment last August 7, but that meeting was canceled at the last minute.
A lawyer by profession, Cacdac was DMW undersecretary and officer-in-charge before he was tapped as department head by Malacañang.
He was also one-time head of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
The Constitution empowers the 25-member CA to vet the competence, fitness and integrity of key presidential appointees – from Cabinet members to senior military officers and diplomats – and to approve or reject them.
The CA is composed of 12 members each from the House and the Senate, with the Senate President as ex officio presiding officer.
