Gina Lopez: Potential DENR replacement may be too inexperienced

Former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez thinks Mark Tolentino, the man whose name is being floated as her successor at the agency, needs more experience before holding the Cabinet position.

"I think he is a 27-year-old guy. You need some kind of development experience. If we're gonna use the environment to bring on some social justice, if we're gonna use the environment to better the lives of our poor, without the development experience you're just learning as you go along," Lopez said in an interview on "News To Go" on Thursday.

"I can't make judgement cause I don't know him, I don't even know how he looks like," she added. "Whoever the president assigns there, I will try to give them as much as I can.

The Commission on Appointments (CA) voted to reject the nomination of Lopez on Wednesday.

After the development, Lopez said Duterte should take over the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) portfolio.

Tolentino is reportedly being pushed for the post by PDP-Laban, Duterte's political party. He is also a member of Duterte's  fraternity Lex Talionis Fraternitas Inc. and a current law professor at the De La Salle University. —Rie Takumi/JST, GMA News