Update: Martir,Preztosa and Paez were all confirmed.
Gloria Arroyo’s penchant for midnight deals seems to have rubbed on with some members of the bureaucracy.
Victoria Bataclan, president of the Union of Foreign Service Officers wrote to Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile in his capacity as chair of the Commission on Appointments to convey the grievance of the members of foreign service corps, this time not about another political appointee in violation of foreign service law but about another career foreign service officer, Patricia Ann Paez.
The CA is scheduled to meet today.
Brig. Gen. Jonathan Martir and Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza are also among those whose promotion to Major General are for confirmation today.
Martir’s name was included at the last minute. There is something wrong here because Martir is due to retire March 5. There’s a rule in the military that one cannot be promoted within one year to retirement.
We are told that a very influential member of the CA is pushing for Martir’s confirmation even if it’s in against the law because a security agency identified iwht the general supplies the guards for his son’s business. Talk of ethics!
Prestoza is lucky because Sen. Panfilo Lacson won’t be here to block his promotion. Prestoza, it will be recalled, was the one who enticed Mancao to implicate Lacson in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case. Success!
Paez, who holds the rank of career minister and is currently detailed in Malacañang as special assistant, is being promoted to Chief of Mission I. If promoted she would qualify for an ambassadorial assignment.
