MANILA, August 25, 2011— A Catholic bishop has joined the line of those opposing the Senate approval of Ramon Paje’s appointment as Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ secretary.
Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez said that there are other people who are more qualified for the post and it is certainly not Paje.
“He does not have the education background. He does not know what (environmental issues) is going around in the country especially in Mindanao. He does not know about violations here,” he said over Catholic Church-run Radyo Veritas Thursday.
“There was a time that I send him pictures of Tampakan mining (but) nothing happened… not even a reply,” Gutierrez said.
For the second time this month, the Commission on Appointments (CA) panel has deferred recommending the confirmation of Paje as DENR chief due to time constraints.
Last Aug. 10, the agency’s environment committee also suspended hearing the appointment of Paje because they ran out of time discussing various concerns of those against his confirmation.
During yesterday’s hearing, more critics of Paje appeared in the hearing like Catholic priest Fr. Pedro Montallana, Datu Teodoro Nasayao, Reynaldo Bodis, Rogelio Casasola and Vitoriano Vidal.
According to Montallana, the DENR official never made any action on their complaint about the rampant illegal logging in Siera Madre in Quezon province, Aurora, Isabela and Cagayan. [CBCPNews]
