MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo Lacson scored fellow Sen. Rodante Marcoleta for his "ego-driven" actions during the confirmation hearing of five senior military officials and 85 foreign service officers on Wednesday.
During Wednesday's Commission on Appointments hearing, Lacson motioned to act promptly on the confirmation of the military and foreign service officers, as the delay caused by the Senate leadership row was "no fault of their own."
But Marcoleta claimed the affected Armed Forces of the Philippines senior officers were considered bypassed because they fell short of the one-year ban, or one year before they reached retirement age.
Lacson pointed out that the CA's special session is a continuation of the first regular session and cannot be considered a new regular session, contrary to Marcoleta's insistence.
"Hindi raw siya mag-object, basta i-withdraw ko rin ang manifestation (ko). Ano siya, hilo? (He said he would not object so long as I withdraw my manifestation. Is he nuts?)," Lacson said on Thursday in a radio interview.
"What he wants is to feed his ego, to make me admit that my manifestation was wrong. So, is he nuts? I refused to accommodate him all for his ego. I'm not playing to his ego," he said in Filipino.
Lacson wondered why Marcoleta had to disrupt the proceedings. Eh, minamadali na nga, ala-una pasado na, hindi pa kami [nag] lunch (We were trying to fast-track it especially since it was past 1 p.m. and we haven't had lunch)," he said.
"Kasi nakita ko nag lunch na siya sa lounge eh, busog na siya (But I saw him having eaten his lunch at the lounge already so he was [already] full)," he added.
Lacson said that while he was concerned that Marcoleta would invoke Section 20 that allows a CA member to singlehandedly suspend the consideration or confirmation of a nominee or appointee, a review of the CA rules showed that the section cannot be invoked on the last day of session.
