BUSINESSMAN Michael Lloyd Dino bade the public goodbye as his term as presidential assistant for the Visayas ended last June 30, 2022.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on June 29 declared vacant some of the government posts and items under the Executive department through Memorandum Circular (MC) 1.
In a statement posted last June 29, Dino thanked the people of Visayas for the support they have extended to the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (Opav).
“To the people of the Visayas, damo nga salamat. Damo gid nga salamat. Daghang salamat and thank you very much!” he said.
“It has been my greatest honor to serve the people of the Visayas region at a time of realizing genuine change in our country under a leadership anchored in the values of ‘Tapang at Malasakit.’ As a very private individual before this administration, I have found family in public service in all of you. But it’s time now to bid you all goodbye. Gikan sa akong kasing-kasing, daghang salamat kaninyong tanan,” Dino added.
Dino was appointed as Opav secretary by former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 after the latter assumed his post as the country’s 16th president.
“For the past six years, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas has been fulfilling its task of bridging the three Visayas regions to Malacañang. We have always strived to go the extra mile beyond our mandate to provide assistance to many of our kababayans whenever we can and brought their concerns to specific government agencies so that these could be addressed,” said Dino.
He apologized to “those whose concerns remained unresolved” by his office, saying “while we tried to do the best we can, we are limited to what we can humanly possibly do and can only do as much as we could.”
“To all those who have shared with us their precious time; those who gave donations, especially during the pandemic; and to all those who have supported our efforts to serve our people in the Visayas, we can never thank you enough. All of you have shown genuine ‘Malasakit’ for our kababayans,” he said.
He said the Opav will retain its Facebook page as a “historical journal of what we all did together.”
“But like a chapter closed, it will be unable to respond to your future concerns,” Dino said.
Under MC 1 of President Marcos, all presidential appointees holding co-terminus appointments, as well as those occupying posts created in excess of the authorized staffing pattern, are deemed separated from office effective noontime of June 30.
Marcos assumed his post as the country’s 17th president at noontime of June 30.
Also deemed separated from service are non-Career Executive Service Officials (Ceso) occupying Career Executive Service (CES) positions and contractual or casual employees.
In the exigency of the service and to ensure the continuous and effective delivery of government services, vacancy in the heads of departments, offices, agencies, and bureaus where no replacement has been appointed shall be filled up by the next-in-rank and most senior official as Officer-in-Charge (OIC), according to the memorandum circular.
“The OIC shall perform the duties and discharge the responsibilities of the office until 31 July 2022, or until a replacement has been appointed or designated, whichever comes first,” the circular read.
All non-Ceso occupying CES positions in all the agencies of the Executive branch shall remain in office and continue to perform their duties and discharge their responsibilities on a holdover capacity until July 31 or until their resignation have been accepted and their respective replacements have been designated, whichever comes first.
Affected contractual or casual employees whose contracts expire on June 30 shall continue in service until July 31, unless otherwise earlier terminated or renewed by the heads of the hiring agencies in accordance with their specific needs and requirements and subject to pertinent administrative and auditing rules and regulations.
Also under MC 1, services rendered by the officials and personnel shall be compensated in accordance with existing civil service, budgeting, accounting, and auditing laws and rules.
They are also directed to effect an “orderly and complete” turnover of records, documents, books, equipment, and other properties of their respective offices to their successors or the highest career official in their respective agencies. (LMY/With PNA/SunStar Philippines)