Appointments body OKs appointments of 2 Cabinet members, 21 envoys

(Updated 2:42 p.m.) The Commission on Appointments on Tuesday approved the appointments of Albert del Rosario as secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and Virgilio delos Reyes as secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). The powerful body also approved the appointments of 21 ambassadors and 39 DFA officers. The CA made the approval after the foreign affairs and agrarian reform committees recommended them for confirmation earlier in the day. An opposition was filed against Del Rosario but it was immediately dismissed due to lack of evidence directly linking him to a case of syndicated estafa when he was still director of a bank. On the other hand, the opposition filed against Delos Reyes was scrapped after the oppositors filed joint withdrawals of their petitions for "personal and organizational reasons." Another CA panel will tackle the nomination of Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes on Wednesday morning. The CA is composed of the Senate president as its head and 12 senators and 12 congressmen as its members. Its duty 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. - KBK, GMA News