CA, TURN JURY?

Our country is known for having started the People Power Movement in order to restore democracy and afterwhich to strengthen the people's participation in governance.

However, the political moves in the country point to conservative or traditional styles of governance where the structure has not been changed at all, save the restoration of Congress. That's all. And the hierarchy is still there; the people are outside the power loop of the elected officials. 

This should not be the case. The non-confirmation of Gina Lopez as secretary of the department of environment and natural resources points to a flawed process in our government, in particular,  of the Senate Commission on Appointments. 

The process is too open -- the jury members, the senators themselves appear to be like criminal judges questioning the apparent capability and moral ascendancy of Ms. Lopez. They turn a blind eye to her very obvious desire to serve the country and the people. 

Why, how do we see the Philippines, a mere map? Of course not. The Philippines, the country that we love has soils, oceans, seas and mountains. And the people reside on them to enjoy the bounty that God has provided. 

But the confirmation "judges" seem to turn blind as to what the Philippines, our country is. 

They only see our country as a playground for digging and bombing in order to extract minerals. They do not look beyond that. 

Hence in order to use the principles of the People Power Movement, we must make sure that the cabinet secretaries are put up, not only by the elected senators/congress people but with the concurrency also by groups of NGO organizations.

And so, I propose, if there should be confirmation hearings, all the "judges" should be billeted in a hotel, with no one contacting them for the duration of the sessions to interview the applicants to official posts. Not even their staff should be allowed in. Also, they should not discuss with each other their findings or conclusions until the last day when they have to make final judgment. 

The sessions should be done in closed-door meetings, but video recorded in order to see if what they had done was above par. A group of concerned citizens, the president and Senate President should watch the video and evaluate the interviews to see which judges were impartial/not impartial in their interviews. 

In this manner, the judges will not have any chance to be influenced by vested interests.

to be continued