Friday, July 06, 2007 More than 200 appointees have resigned: Palace
EXECUTIVE Secretary Eduardo Ermita has revealed that 268 presidential executive in the different government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), government financial institutions (GFIs), sequestered corporations and attached agencies of the executive branch have already submitted their courtesy resignations.
Ermita said in his weekly briefing that the appointees came from 42 agencies among which are the Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS), the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC), the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost), the Light Railway Transit Authority (LTRA), the National Power Corporation (Napocor), the National Transmission Corporation (Transco), and the Philippine National-Oil Company (PNOC) and its attached agencies.
He said while the other appointees have not yet submitted their resignation, they would still be included in the review of the search committee which would determine who are those on holdover, those who terms have expired, and the remaining vacant positions in the boards of the agencies affected.
Ermita said the different Cabinet secretaries have also been asked to submit their own evaluation on the performance of the affected appointees, which would serve basis for a recommendation that would be crafted by the search committee and submitted to the President.
He said aside from GOCC and GFI appointees, the President is also reviewing the performance of the some presidential appointees and consultants.
Ermita said Arroyo is practically reviewing the performance of everyone.
Ermita said during the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) meeting, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had noted that she named Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales to his post because of his good performance and accomplishments in Batangas and she is wondering why he could not duplicate the same accomplishments in his office now.
"Look, the basis for my choosing Commissioner Morales to become the commissioner of Customs is his) very good collection performance in the Port of Batangas, so why do we have very poor performance in some important ports?" Ermita quoted Arroyo as saying.
Asked if this would mean that Morales, along with Internal Revenue acting commissioner Lilia Hefti and Finance Secretary Margarito Teves would be sacked if their agencies would continue to fail to reach their revenue targets by the end of the year, he said it would be up to the President.
In the same briefing, Ermita announced the appointments of National Security Council deputy head Pedro Cabuay as deputy national security adviser. Cabuay is a retired military general.
He also announced the promotion of Rebecca Calsado as assistant secretary of the labor department and Virgilio Mortera as assistant secretary of the transportation and communications department.
Ermita however said Arroyo has yet to name a national treasurer vice Omar Cruz and a new commissioner of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) vice Ramos Sales. Both Cruz and Sales's resignations became effective last June 30.
He said there is already a short list submitted by Teves to replace Cruz but the President has yet to announce her choice, while in the case of Sales, the search committee is still looking for someone who is
"equally qualified."
Arroyo, meanwhile, has given back to Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan the full powers of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) by revoking Administration Order (AO) 175, which gave Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. more powers over the BI. Arroyo, through AO 179, revoked AO 175 last June 25.
Ermita said the revocation order was the result of "representations" made by Libanan to the President to be given the full powers of his office.
AO 175 was issued when Alipio Fernandez was still immigration chief.
It gave the justice secretary or his authorized representative "the power to act on immigration cases, including waiver of visas and admission of aliens, and to countermand decisions of the BI Board of Commissioners."
The justice secretary was also given the power to "transfer, detail, assign or reassign officials and personnel, including presidential appointees, of the BI" provided that the reassignment would not affect the tenure of the official or result in demotion of rank or salary deduction.
In a separate order, Arroyo also transferred the jurisdiction of the Council on the Welfare of Children (CWC) from the Office of the President (OP) to the Department of Social Welfare Development (DSWD).
Arroyo, in issuing Executive Order (EO) 630, said there is a need to designate a "focal agency" that will oversee the operations of the CWC secretariat and make its operations more efficient, specifically in monitoring the implementation and enforcement of all laws for children.
Under EO 630, the CWC will be placed as an attached agency of the DSWD and will function as the National Early Childhood Care and Development Coordinating Council. It will be headed by an executive director who is a career official. (JMR/Sunnex)
