Sen. Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson on Thursday scored the ego-driven actions of Sen. Rodante Marcoleta during Wednesday’s Commission on Appointments (CA) hearing on the confirmation of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) officers and foreign service officers.
Lacson called out Marcoleta’s objecting to his manifestation for the prompt confirmation of the AFP and foreign service officers’ promotions – and agreeing to withdraw his objection, if Lacson would also withdraw his manifestation.
“Gusto niya, hindi raw siya mag-object, basta i-withdraw ko rin ang manifestation (ko). Ano siya, hilo? Ang gusto niya, ego yan eh. Para naman pakita niya na in-admit ko mali ang aking manifestation. Pinag-withdraw niya ako. Sabi ko, ano siya hilo? Di ko gagawin yan, ego lang yan. Hindi ako mag-play sa ego niya (He said he would not object so long as I withdraw my manifestation. Is he nuts? What he wants is to feed his ego, to make me admit that my manifestation was wrong. So is he nuts? I refused to accommodate him all for his ego. I’m not playing to his ego),” he said in an interview on DZBB radio.
“Kilala naman natin siya. Basta maipilit ang kanya, yan ang tama. Ayaw niya makinig ng explanation, ayaw niya makinig ng reason (We know him. He wants to insist that he is right, and he does not want to hear any explanation or listen to reason),” he added.
During Wednesday’s CA hearing, Lacson manifested that the CA act promptly on the confirmation of the military and foreign service officers, as the delay caused by the Senate leadership row was “no fault of their own.”
But Marcoleta claimed the affected AFP officers were considered bypassed because they fell short of the one-year ban, or one year before they reached retirement age.
Lacson pointed out that the CA’s special session is a continuation of the first regular session and cannot be considered a new regular session, contrary to Marcoleta’s insistence.
He recalled that when Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri talked to Marcoleta to convince him to withdraw his objection, Marcoleta said he would not object, so long as Lacson withdrew his manifestation.
Also, Lacson said that while he was concerned that Marcoleta would invoke Section 20 that allows a CA member to singlehandedly suspend the consideration or confirmation of a nominee or appointee, a review of the CA rules showed that the section cannot be invoked on the last day of session.
“Sabi ko, e go na tayo, tuloy na natin ito. Siguro napagtanton niya rin na hindi uubra ang Section 20, hindi na rin siya nag-object, nag-manifest siya pa nga na support (So I said let’s push through with the proceedings. Perhaps Marcoleta realized he cannot invoke Section 20, so he no longer objected and even manifested his support),” he said.
“Pero bakit mong guluhin? E, minamadali na nga, ala-una pasado na, hindi pa kami lunch. Kasi nakita ko nag lunch na siya sa lounge eh, busog na siya (But why did he have to disrupt the proceedings? We were trying to fast-track it especially since it was past 1 p.m. and we haven’t had lunch – but I saw him having eaten his lunch at the lounge already so he was full),” he added.
