GMA ends 'midnight appointments'

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo is finished with her so-called “midnight appointments” or what Palace officials call a “reorganization” of the bureaucracy.

Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza yesterday maintained that the recent appointments made by the President are legal, having been made before the ban on appointments started last March 10.

He also said Mrs. Arroyo is not using the recent Supreme Court (SC) ruling which allowed her to appoint the next chief justice as a blanket authority for the numerous appointments she made.

“The reorganization was already completed before March 10. All the appointments have been issued. All the appointments were signed before March 10 as provided for by law on the election ban,” Mendoza said in a press briefing.

He said the appointments appeared to have been made hastily because of the delay in announcements, in turn caused by the lengthy administrative procedure followed for making appointments.

He said opposition candidates and officials affected by the appointments are politicizing the issue for media mileage.

“Maybe that’s where the delay is (in the announcements). We are very conscious of these provisions, especially election laws,” he said.

He said the President is not affected by the criticisms, but she asked him to talk to those affected by the appointments.

“We hope that our people will see through all the political noise and understand that the President is simply doing what she has always done – lead our country based only on considerations of performance and posterity never popularity.”

Mendoza yesterday announced the appointment of Ambassador Libran Catacutan as the new Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations, replacing Ambassador Hilario Davide who resigned last month.  

Among the new appointees was 87-year-old business tycoon Alfonso Yuchengco, who replaced Philippine Ambassador to Germany Delia Domingo-Albert. 

Albert, who was at the briefing, said she “sought clarification” from the President but accepted that it was her prerogative to appoint and remove officials.

Re-electionist Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said the new appointments are not illegal but Albert’s replacement is unjustified.

“With respect to appointment of the ambassador for Germany, that to me is inexplicable, as chair of the Committee of Foreign Relations, particularly of the Commission on Appointments. Because I cannot see a diplomatic crisis that will require the sudden removal of an ambassador who is not given any prior notice,” Santiago said.

She said Albert’s removal from post “broke all protocol in the foreign service.”

Nacionalista Party senatorial candidate Gilbert Remulla said the last-minute appointments are inappropriate because Mrs. Arroyo’s term expires in two months.

He said the party is planning to question the appointment before the Supreme Court.

Another controversial appointee is Mrs. Arroyo’s classmate and aerobics instructor Cynthia Carreon as head of the Tourism and Promotions Board.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) yesterday said Carreon was not really appointed by the President but elected by the 10-member Tourism Board last Tuesday.

No constitutional violation

Acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra said President Arroyo did not violate the constitutional ban on appointments because the replacements of various officials in the executive department were “personnel movements, not appointments.”

He said Article VII Section 15 of the Constitution exempts temporary appointments in the executive department from the ban, and covers only public officers, not public employees.

Positions that are coterminous with the President are also exempted from the ban.

Agra also believes all positions in the judiciary are exempted from the ban, because of the recent SC ruling.

Mrs. Arroyo has also appointed Angeles University Foundation School of Law professors Eduardo Peralta Jr. and Ramon Hernando as justices of the Court of Appeals. – With Edu Punay, Christina Mendez, Mayen Jaymalin