Permanent AG to be named soon By ALDWIN R. FAJARDO
Governor Pedro P. Tenorio is taking careful steps to ensure that the next attorney general nomination he submits will be confirmed by the powerful Senate Committee on Executive Appointments and Governmental Investigations.
The governor has apparently grown tired of the committee’s persistent refusal to attend to the nomination of acting Attorney General Maya Kara since she was appointed to the position in 1998.
Vowing to the pressure from the Senate, Mr. Tenorio yesterday dropped strong indications he would submit a new AG nomination to the EAGI. “I want to make sure the next name I submit will be confirmed.”
He echoed the sentiments of some legislators that there is a need to install a permanent attorney general in order to finally put the government’s legal house in order.
The governor refused to disclose whether his administration is now on the lookout for a new nominee or he has already someone in mind. He only said his office is now working at installing a permanent attorney general.
“We are working on that. I want to be sure that my nominee will be confirmed this time around. We will soon have a permanent attorney general,” he said.
The Senate has consistently rejected the confirmation of Ms. Kara’s appointment as attorney general. Since her nomination was withdrawn by the governor on Sept. 23, 1999, Ms. Kara has remained as acting attorney general.
The governor hinted that he does not intend to re-submit Ms. Kara’s nomination as permanent attorney general to the Senate, saying that her chances of getting confirmed remain slim since only one of the members of the 11th Senate has been replaced during last year’s elections.
Ms. Kara had been declared “unfit” to hold the AGO by the 11th Senate through a special joint committee report. The same report branded her a “usurper” whose nomination should be rejected again if re-submitted.
Key members of the Senate’s influential EAGI committee had alleged that she had a hand in the controversial agreement reached between the government and a Japan-based advertising company.
