Gina Lopez: Cayetano got campaign funds from Zamoras, skewed to favor mining

Former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez on Thursday indicated that Senator Alan Peter Cayetano was unduly influenced by the funding he allegedly received from the Zamora clan when he opposed her nomination to head the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

In an interview on GMA News TV's News To Go, Lopez said Cayetano's questioning during the confirmation process before the Commission on Appointments was skewed in favor of the mining industry.

"He clearly voted against me, it was very evident. He's funded by, I mean the Zamoras funded his political campaign, so go figure," Lopez said in an interview on News To Go on Thursday.

Manuel Zamora is the president of Nickel Asia, the largest nickel company in the country.

His brother, Ronaldo, is the representative of the lone congressional district of San Juan.

GMA News Online is still trying to get Cayetano and the Zamoras' side as of posting time.

Lopez in the interview referred to Cayetano's questioning of her differing standards on mining, logging, and the tourism industry during the resumption of her confirmation hearing on May 2.

Cayetano remarked that Lopez focused on the negatives of mining and logging while overlooking the environmental destruction that tourism brings to some beaches.

"He was saying, if you don't allow mining, what about beach resorts? Is he saying that because people step on the shell, we should allow rivers to be destroyed?" Lopez said.

She added, "His thinking is clearly skewed towards the mining industry."

Zamora and Lopez faced off during a confirmation hearing for the latter in March wherein she accused him of killing a mountain with his company's, Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC), mining operations.

Lopez also defended her "non-negotiable stand" regarding her environmental policies amidst talk from Ronaldo Zamoraas regards the qualifications for the head of the DENR.

"I just saw on the TV, Ronnie Zamora is talking about the minimum of qualifications. The most important thing here is vision and integrity. What does he want, what is necessary to lead the DENR?" she said.

"I feel the most important thing is the vision, of where you wanna go. And then two is a non-negotiable stand on integrity. Three is the ability to make things happen," Lopez added.

The former DENR secretary added that she heard rumors of Senator Panfilo Lacson and Gringo Honasan voting against her while Senators Loren Legarda, Bam Aquino, Vicente Sotto III, Kiko Pangilinan, JV Ejercito, and Ralph Recto supposedly voted in her favor.

"The ones that I am really, really sure of is Loren, Bam, and Sotto, and Pangilinan. I do not know the other ones. JV, I love JV Ejercito. He's the best, I really like him," Lopez said.

"I think Lacson clearly voted. Lacson clearly voted against me, and Gringo Honasan. I was told that Recto also voted for me. I think he had some apprehension. That's six already. I don't know where the two more came from," she added. —Rie Takumi/NB, GMA News