The Commission on Appointments (CA) can still confirm the appointments of at least three Cabinet secretaries before the Christmas break, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said on Wednesday. Enrile, head of the CA, said before the lawmakers go on their holiday break on December 18, there might still be time to confirm the nominations of:
Education Sec. Armin Luistro; Energy Sec. Jose Rene Almendras, and Tourism Sec. Alberto Lim The Congress session will resume on January 17 next year. Earlier in the day, the CA deferred to December 14 the hearing on Lim's nomination after formal opposition was filed against his nomination. The commission also earlier deferred to December 14 the hearing on the appointments of Luistro and Almendras. The CA will conduct its last hearing for the year on December 15, when it will hear the nomination of Agriculture Sec. Proceso Alcala. Enrile said President Benigno Simeon Aquino III does not have to worry that no Cabinet secretary would be confirmed before the year ends. "(If the) President will deal with these little things, the poor guy will not have time to relfect and think on what he will do on the array of problems coming to him internally and externally," Enrile told reporters on Wednesday. Senator Miriam-Santiago on Wednesday also withdrew her objection to Luistro's appointment as "a gesture of courtesy to the incumbent administration." The CA is composed of the Senate president as its head and 12 senators and 12 congressmen as its members. The commission’s duty as mandated by the 1987 Constitution is to confirm appointments made by the President of the Philippines: the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, or officers of the Amed Forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, except those of the Ombudsman and Supreme Court justices. The CA discusses and deliberates on nominations at the standing committee level and at the plenary session. Nominations or appointments may end up being confirmed, rejected or bypassed. - VVP, GMANews.TV 
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