EO vs appointees questioned at SC

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) was asked yesterday to nullify Executive Order 2 of President Aquino revoking the midnight appointments of his predecessor.

 In separate petitions, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) director Eddie Tamondong and Department of Justice (DOJ) Assistant Secretary Jose Arturo de Castro, both of whom would be axed from their positions, asked the Court to temporarily stop the implementation of the order.

The President signed EO 2 last July 30. Covered are 977 officials who were appointed on or after March 11, 2010; appointed before March 11 but assumed office after that date; or appointed during the 45-day ban on appointments ahead of the May 10 elections.

Tamondong said he should not have been included in the list of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s midnight appointees because he was re-appointed last March 1, or 10 days before the ban on appointments took effect.

Tamondong also argued that the order violates RA 7227 also known as the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992, which gives him a fixed term of six years, lapsing in March 2016.

He said the order “demonstrates an arbitrary misuse of executive power.”

Tamondong, who has been in his post since January 2008, claimed that he questioned the order not really to keep his position, for which he is paid a monthly salary of only P17,000.

“(The issue) is about the primacy of law passed by Congress that is being run over roughshod by a presidential issuance. And being a lawyer, sworn to uphold the Constitution and the supremacy of law, the petitioner cannot just sit idly and nonchalantly in the face of blatant misuse, if not abuse of presidential prerogative,” he said.

In his petition, De Castro said the order violates Article III Section 1 of the Constitution which prohibits “deprivation of persons of their property rights without just cause and compliance with the cardinal requirement of due process;” and Article IX Section 2b of the Constitution which prohibits “deprivation of civil service employees of security of tenure and summarily dismissing them without just cause and without compliance with the cardinal requirements of due process.”

De Castro pointed out that EO 2 also covers appointments made by officials other than the president outside the 45-day ban on appointments ahead of the May 10 elections.

He also said Mr. Aquino usurped judicial power in issuing the order.

“The Office of the President has no jurisdiction to unilaterally remove persons whom they believe to be unlawfully holding or exercising a public office/position on the premise of being ‘midnight appointees’ because the said power is judicial in nature, and rests with the courts,” he said. De Castro said he was re-appointed justice assistant secretary on Mar. 1, 2010.

De Castro also questioned EO 3 which revoked EO 883 issued by Arroyo that granted career service officer rank to government lawyers in the executive branch.

“It violates the basic principle of separation of powers. (Malacañang) encroaches and usurps judicial functions by declaring EO 883 null and void – an act which impinges on the separation of powers allocating to the (Supreme Court) the power to adjudicate the illegality of executive orders,” he said.

Since assuming office, the President has reversed several issuances of the previous administration.

His first order, Memorandum Circular 1, terminated non-career service officials in the government effective July 30 but extended their terms for another three months until Oct. 31 after some of them warned of a leadership vacuum in government offices.

Non-career service officials who would like to continue working for the government would have to obtain a Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) rank, a process that takes a year to complete.

Civil Service Commission (CSC) chair Francisco Duque III noted that the three-month extension given by Mr. Aquino to non-career executive officials is not enough time to obtain a CESO rank.

“No one will really finish in three months,” he said.

To obtain a CESO rank VI, the lowest rank among career government executives, a candidate must first pass the Management Aptitude test, evaluation of the Assessment Center, validation of on-the-job performance, and an interview of the Career Executive Service Board.           

Duque said the CSC would again be consulted before Oct. 31.

Over a thousand non-career executive officials were supposed to have been terminated last July 20 because of the issuance of MC 1. – With Michael Punongbayan