Miriam grills DSWD chief on links with anti-Arroyo group
Not only her confirmation was once again deferred, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman also got lectured on the concept of God and the alleged false pretenses of her former group when she faced the committee on labor, employment and social welfare of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday.
At the hearing, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago asked Soliman about her affiliation with the Black and White Movement (BWM), a civil society group critical of the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and a vocal supporter of the presidential bid of incumbent President Benigno Aquino III in 2010.
Soliman said she left the group when she got appointed secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) by Aquino.
“As a Cabinet member we are not allowed to be a member of any of the organizations that we may accredit for the work that they do,” she told Santiago. “So just to be able to remove conflict of interest I resigned from all of my NGO (non-government organization) affiliations when I joined government again.”
In an interview with reporters after the hearing, Santiago, when asked on what Soliman should do to appease her, said the DSWD secretary could “resign.”
But when asked on whether this means Soliman was not fit for her position, Santiago said it was for Aquino to decide.
“That is for the president to decide, but I am really bothered as a lawyer and political scientist by her leanings towards the Manichean philosophy and populist philosophy, because for me they are very discreditable philosophies.”
Dualist beliefs
Santiago, during the hearing, accused the BWM of espousing dualist beliefs.
“In the [BWM], there is no such allowance for the so-called gray areas. You’re either good or you’re either bad, you’re either light or you’re either dark. That is my basic concern with this nominee, to look at the world only in shades of dark and light and not make allowances for human failures or for human limitations,” she said.
“In the first place, who determines what is good, and who determines what is evil? That is the egotistic problem with Black and White... Who is to decide what is black and what is white?” the feisty lawmaker added.
As part of the group, Soliman, who was also DSWD chief during the Arroyo administration, is “closely associated with that mindset,” Santiago said.
Santiago, recently elected as one of the judges of the International Criminal Court, noted that only the Supreme Court is empowered by the Constitution to determine what is good and evil, and what is right and wrong.
“Pero pag Black and White, natural isip mo mas mataas ka sa Korte Suprema dahil ikaw lang nakakaalam kung ano tama, and yet you have no credentials for authority but you assume. Sino ang nagbigay sa kanila ng kapangyarihan?” Santiago told members of the CA panel.
God-fearing people
Another committee member, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, meanwhile, asked whether the BWM believed in God.
Soliman, in response, said members of the group are “God-fearing people.”
“We start our meetings with prayer because we believe that God is the highest power and that God is the one that sets the norm of what is good and evil,” she said. “We believe that God, whatever your faith is, [has] defined what is good, what is right, what is bad, what is wrong.”
She added that they believe that “there is a higher power than all of us and that higher power is God.”
Soliman explained that the group is called Black and White because they had a “sense” that there is a “need to be clear what is true and what is not true, on what is wrong and what is not right.”
“[We started as] ordinary citizens who believe that in our democracy, the voices of everyone, including ordinary citizens, should be and must be heard and that this voice should be carried in the corridors of power...or these voices can be heard in the media, or these voices can be heard in the streets,” she said.
She also denied that they consider themselves “arbiters of good and evil.”
“We are one of the many citizens groups in the past — and continue to do so now — who advocate for reforms, who advocate what is good for the people based on their own consultation with the citizens. We recognize that everyone has a voice in this democracy,” Soliman said.
Last resort
But Santiago was unmoved, saying using God in an argument is the “last resort of the bad debater.”
“[This] is nothing but an argument that God is speaking directly to them and not to other people. [But] who knows what God is? Who understands the mind of God? Who has a direct line to God so that he or she can ask God what is right and what is wrong?” she said.
“I would like to see the appointment papers of the Black and White people from God, signed by God appointing them giving them powers of attorney,” she added in jest.
Taking on a serious note, Santiago said she is “outraged by the gall of these people,” referring to BWM members. She appealed to them to show a "little humility."
“Una, tumakbo kayo sa halalan. Pangalawa, mag-aral nga kayo sa Theology para intindihin ninyo ang pinagsasabi ninyo,” she said as a piece of advice to the group. “It is pure human arrogance to claim that we can compartmentalize human life into good and evil.”
Santiago had earlier warned of a "movement" in the Palace that was supposedly putting Aquino in “legal peril” for giving him bad advice in dealing with the conflict between the executive and the judiciary. She, however, refused to identify the group.
The CA panel, meanwhile, once again deferred from recommending Soliman for confirmation pending more questions from Santiago.
Also during the hearing, Soliman was quizzed regarding several allegations made against her, most notably in connection with the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program and the her alleged involvement in the Caucus of NGO networks (Code NGO), which supposedly earned a P1.4-billion commission from the P10-billion Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificate (PEACe) bonds.
On the other hand, the appointment of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Christian Lim was approved by the CA. His term will end in February 2018. - KBK, GMA News
At the hearing, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago asked Soliman about her affiliation with the Black and White Movement (BWM), a civil society group critical of the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and a vocal supporter of the presidential bid of incumbent President Benigno Aquino III in 2010.
Soliman said she left the group when she got appointed secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) by Aquino.
“As a Cabinet member we are not allowed to be a member of any of the organizations that we may accredit for the work that they do,” she told Santiago. “So just to be able to remove conflict of interest I resigned from all of my NGO (non-government organization) affiliations when I joined government again.”
In an interview with reporters after the hearing, Santiago, when asked on what Soliman should do to appease her, said the DSWD secretary could “resign.”
But when asked on whether this means Soliman was not fit for her position, Santiago said it was for Aquino to decide.
“That is for the president to decide, but I am really bothered as a lawyer and political scientist by her leanings towards the Manichean philosophy and populist philosophy, because for me they are very discreditable philosophies.”
Dualist beliefs
Santiago, during the hearing, accused the BWM of espousing dualist beliefs.
“In the [BWM], there is no such allowance for the so-called gray areas. You’re either good or you’re either bad, you’re either light or you’re either dark. That is my basic concern with this nominee, to look at the world only in shades of dark and light and not make allowances for human failures or for human limitations,” she said.
“In the first place, who determines what is good, and who determines what is evil? That is the egotistic problem with Black and White... Who is to decide what is black and what is white?” the feisty lawmaker added.
As part of the group, Soliman, who was also DSWD chief during the Arroyo administration, is “closely associated with that mindset,” Santiago said.
Santiago, recently elected as one of the judges of the International Criminal Court, noted that only the Supreme Court is empowered by the Constitution to determine what is good and evil, and what is right and wrong.
“Pero pag Black and White, natural isip mo mas mataas ka sa Korte Suprema dahil ikaw lang nakakaalam kung ano tama, and yet you have no credentials for authority but you assume. Sino ang nagbigay sa kanila ng kapangyarihan?” Santiago told members of the CA panel.
God-fearing people
Another committee member, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, meanwhile, asked whether the BWM believed in God.
Soliman, in response, said members of the group are “God-fearing people.”
“We start our meetings with prayer because we believe that God is the highest power and that God is the one that sets the norm of what is good and evil,” she said. “We believe that God, whatever your faith is, [has] defined what is good, what is right, what is bad, what is wrong.”
She added that they believe that “there is a higher power than all of us and that higher power is God.”
Soliman explained that the group is called Black and White because they had a “sense” that there is a “need to be clear what is true and what is not true, on what is wrong and what is not right.”
“[We started as] ordinary citizens who believe that in our democracy, the voices of everyone, including ordinary citizens, should be and must be heard and that this voice should be carried in the corridors of power...or these voices can be heard in the media, or these voices can be heard in the streets,” she said.
She also denied that they consider themselves “arbiters of good and evil.”
“We are one of the many citizens groups in the past — and continue to do so now — who advocate for reforms, who advocate what is good for the people based on their own consultation with the citizens. We recognize that everyone has a voice in this democracy,” Soliman said.
Last resort
But Santiago was unmoved, saying using God in an argument is the “last resort of the bad debater.”
“[This] is nothing but an argument that God is speaking directly to them and not to other people. [But] who knows what God is? Who understands the mind of God? Who has a direct line to God so that he or she can ask God what is right and what is wrong?” she said.
“I would like to see the appointment papers of the Black and White people from God, signed by God appointing them giving them powers of attorney,” she added in jest.
Taking on a serious note, Santiago said she is “outraged by the gall of these people,” referring to BWM members. She appealed to them to show a "little humility."
“Una, tumakbo kayo sa halalan. Pangalawa, mag-aral nga kayo sa Theology para intindihin ninyo ang pinagsasabi ninyo,” she said as a piece of advice to the group. “It is pure human arrogance to claim that we can compartmentalize human life into good and evil.”
Santiago had earlier warned of a "movement" in the Palace that was supposedly putting Aquino in “legal peril” for giving him bad advice in dealing with the conflict between the executive and the judiciary. She, however, refused to identify the group.
The CA panel, meanwhile, once again deferred from recommending Soliman for confirmation pending more questions from Santiago.
Also during the hearing, Soliman was quizzed regarding several allegations made against her, most notably in connection with the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program and the her alleged involvement in the Caucus of NGO networks (Code NGO), which supposedly earned a P1.4-billion commission from the P10-billion Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificate (PEACe) bonds.
On the other hand, the appointment of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Christian Lim was approved by the CA. His term will end in February 2018. - KBK, GMA News
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