Palace: Appointments, deals can't be revoked

MANILA, Philippines - President-apparent Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III may be able to review the so-called midnight appointments and contracts of outgoing President Arroyo but he cannot revoke or overturn them as they are all aboveboard and legal, her spokesman insisted yesterday.

Deputy presidential spokesman Rogelio Peyuan was commenting on Aquino’s repeated warnings that he would revoke all the illegal appointments and contracts made by Mrs. Arroyo, especially those made towards the end of her term.

Aquino had strongly opposed the appointment of Chief Justice Renato Corona. Last week he vowed to review the re-appointment of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chairman Ephraim Genuino and four board directors of the government corporation.

Mrs. Arroyo issued a slew of appointments in the days leading up to March 10, the start of the constitutional ban on appointments during the election period.

Peyuan said all the recent contracts entered into by the administration as well as all the appointments made by Mrs. Arroyo complied with rules and regulations governing the civil service and concerned agencies as well as election laws.

“We have charters and other rules and all these are reviewed by the Office of the President before the appointments are released,” Peyuan said. “We see to it that all those appointments were executed within the ambit of what the law provides.”

He said contracts go through “intense study by different legal offices,” and that it is likely that private parties that may be affected by Aquino’s move to revoke government contracts would contest the matter before the courts.

He, however, stressed that “nothing can prevent the next administration from putting all of these in a review.”

“They (incoming administration) will have their own legal experts, their own legal offices to look into these things and they’ll be the ones to decide if it’s proper for them to contest either before the Civil Service Commission or any of our competent courts,” Peyuan said.

“There is nothing we can do beyond June 30. The rest is their show, the rest is their task, the rest is their constitutional obligation to put all of these things on the table and look at them and for them to find out the legalities. That is no longer in the hands of the current administration. That is the duty of the next government to proceed within the bounds of law,” he said.

Peyuan said it was normal for any incoming president to look into the appointments of his or her predecessor, especially on sensitive posts like revenue-generating agencies like the Pagcor, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.

Kiko hits last minute AFP deal

Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Pangilinan warned President Arroyo against possible midnight deals in connection with the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Pangilinan issued the warning amid reports that Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales was planning to cram the purchase of P300-billion worth of refurbished or surplus equipment from Israel, Canada, Australia, Italy, and South Korea – some of which had been returned to their suppliers due to poor performance in bad weather and low light conditions.

“Why must we cram such large and crucial purchases into the last month of this administration’s term when, in fact, the Multi-Year Obligational Authority for the AFP is not co-terminus with the outgoing administration? Why should we shove surplus equipment down our Armed Forces’ throats when what they need is new and better equipment to serve the needs of our countrymen?” Pangilinan said.

He said these deals need to be looked into “lest we once again enter into anomalous contracts that can spell the difference between life and death for our servicemen.”

The proposed AFP modernization also includes the realignment of P2-billion worth of funds for “intelligence” and “Social Integration Program,” which the senator said are subject to less stringent government accounting and auditing controls.

“Who will benefit from these last minute contracts? If the government is true to its objective to modernize the AFP, then it should first study thoroughly the offers of the suppliers so as not to endanger the lives of our soldiers and civilians,” he said. – Christina Mendez