MANILA -- The Commission on Appointments (CA) will finally rule on the ad interim appointment of Philippine ambassador to Papua New Guinea Bienvenido Tejano next week.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, chairman of the CA committee on foreign relations, gave this assurance Friday following Tejano's failure to secure their approval last week.
Estrada earlier said he would call for another CA hearing on March 22, incidentally, the last day of session before the Commission goes on its Holy Week break.
Tejano’s confirmation got stalled by the opposition filed before the CA by a certain Joan Ruth Tejano Rojero, who, according to Estrada, is the niece of the ambassador.
"There are a lot of issues hounding him. In fact, we had several executive sessions already because of the sensitivity of the issue," Estrada told journalists in a virtual interview.
"We will give the last chance on Wednesday next week. Or if I cancel the hearing on Wednesday next week, maybe, he has to be reappointed by the President... that's considered bypassed by the Commission," he added.
Estrada said CA committee members still have opposing views regarding the accusations being hurled against Tejano.
Without elaborating, Estrada called some of the accusations against the ambassador as really "incredible" and "unbelievable."
Tejano already faced the CA panel thrice - once in open session, and twice in executive sessions.