The Commission on Appointments (CA) confirmed the ad interim appointments of Gamaliel Cordoba as Commission on Audit (COA) Chairperson and Susan ‘Toots’ Ople as Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary.

During the deliberations on his appointment on Tuesday, Cordoba was questioned about handling COA’s audit backlogs, audit on government’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement deals, special audit of the Bureau of Correction as well as COA’s organizational chart.

Cordoba’s appointment was initially deferred last week after a heated exchange among panel members regarding his role in the ABS-CBN franchise denial.

Senator Risa Hontiveros earlier questioned the trustworthiness of Cordoba as public official because he broke his commitment of issuing a provisional authority to ABS-CBN when he was still the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) chief.

After his confrimation, Cordoba vowed before the CA that under his leadership, COA would be “independent” and “free” from political pressure.

“Ang aking assurance I would go to you for guidance sa mga nangyayari sa aming opisina,” he added.

Meanwhile in a separate hearing, the CA panel members swiftly confirmed Ople’s appointment.

Senate President and CA chair Juan Miguel ‘Migz’ Zubiri recognized that Ople inherited her characteristics from her late father, former senator, labor minister, and foreign affairs secretary Blas Ople.

He also acknowledged the track record of Ople as an advocate of migrant worker’s rights.

“If there is anyone in this world that we can say that was born to the job and task, it is this Honorable lady, Ma’am Sec. Toots Ople,” Zubiri said.