By Christine F. Herrera

MALACA?ANG has promoted the country?s military spy chief and 18 other senior officers, Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas, vice chairman of the bicameral Commission on Appointments, said yesterday.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Prestoza, chief of the Armed Forces Intelligence Service, has been endorsed for promotion to the rank of major general. Others up for promotion to the same rank are Rudival Cabading, Arthur Mancenido, Eduardo Oban Jr., and Arturo Ortiz.

Endorsed for promotion to brigadier general are Allan Bontuyan, Renato David, William Esplana, Teodoro Evangelista, Carlos Luces, Roberto Morales, Nicolas Ojeda Jr., Felizardo Simoy, Pedro Ramon Sinajon Jr., Alger Tan, and Jose Tony Villarete.

Leonardo Calderon Jr. has been endorsed for promotion to vice admiral, and Rosauro Arnel Gonzales Jr. and Efren Tedor were recommended for promotion to commodore.

Gullas, who heads the House contingent in the commission, also identified three new ambassadors: Alejandro del Rosario, to Poland; Ariel Abadilla, to Ireland; and Ma. Corazon Bahjin, to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The commission also received endorsements for 36 chiefs of mission, foreign service officers and career ministers at the Foreign Affairs Department.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, chairman of the commission?s committee on national defense, was set to hear Wednesday the previous appointments of 24 other senior military officers led by Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit, a former chief of the Presidential Security Group, Gullas said.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, head of the commission?s committee on constitutional commissions and offices, is set to deliberate also on Wednesday on the appointments of Armando Velasco, Lucenito Tagle and Leonardo Leonida to the Commission on Elections.

Elias Yusoph?s recent appointment as Comelec member could not yet be set for a hearing because his papers were still incomplete, Gullas said.

?All told, a total of 121 executives, including 57 new appointees, are now pending CA confirmation,? he said.

The new appointees include Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, who joins four other Cabinet members previously bypassed and reinstalled by Malaca?ang last month: Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, and Environment Secretary Jose Atienza Jr.

Civil Service Commission chairman Ricardo Saludo was reinstalled last month and is also pending confirmation, along with former senator Orlando Mercado, the designated ambassador to China, North Korea and Mongolia.

The Constitution vests the Commission on Appointments with the power to approve or disapprove presidential appointments. This is part of the checks and balances established by the Constitution to ensure that all government departments function in a manner most beneficial to the public welfare.

Among those subject to confirmation are the heads of executive departments, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, military officers from the rank of colonel or naval captain, and the heads and members of constitutional commissions and offices.