Employees affected by EO 2 seek guidelines from Malacañang

MANILA, Philippines - Government employees affected by Executive Order 2 are seeking guidelines from Malacañang on whether they should vacate their posts.

Sources said EO 2 should have been accompanied by an administrative order since the positions of midnight appointments of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were all declared vacant.

However, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa said not everyone appointed after March 10, the two-month period prohibited by law to make appointments, would be fired because some could be justified under the law.

Some of them could be reappointed by heads of departments and agencies and that appointments in the judiciary would not likely be covered by EO 2.

Sources said Malacañang should have issued guidelines to accompany the order instead of letting the heads of departments and agencies interpret EO 2.

Malacañang said yesterday no midnight appointees have yet been fired because their papers are being reviewed.

However, the Palace dismissed the call of Supreme Court (SC) spokesman Midas Marquez to exercise “judicial courtesy” in the implementation of EO 2 since the SC did not issue a temporary restraining order.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the administration will review all midnight appointments and those appointed during the prohibited period must go since the SC did not issue a TRO.

“Legally, as a body, as an institution, the Supreme Court did not issue a temporary restraining order,” he said.

“Therefore, it doesn’t stop us from reviewing the midnight appointees, the list from each Cabinet official. We can still do that.”

Lacierda said it would just take time because the papers were being reviewed one by one.

“We’re looking at the oath, the appointment date, some of them, we understand, have been antedated.

“We are verifying the reports of the antedated oaths of office. So it’s a pretty long process. We want to be sure the requisite due process is followed.”

Lacierda said Marquez should not have called on Malacañang to restrain its action.

“I’ve asked Solicitor General (Jose Anselmo) Cadiz in that regard because he is going to represent the government before the Supreme Court,” he said. 

“The answer of (Marquez) is a bit of a nuance. He told us to exercise prudence but, at the same time, he also confirmed our position that there being no TRO, we can implement and review, we can conduct an ongoing review of all the midnight appointees.

“Our position is, we will obey whatever legal order that the Supreme Court will issue. So, in the meantime, the case is already with Solicitor General Cadiz, he will study it and he will be defending it in the weeks to come.”

The Presidential Management Staff has come up with a list of 977 government officials and employees appointed between March and June.

The Office of the Executive Secretary and the Office of the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel will decide who among them would be fired.

The SC has given the government 10 days to answer the petitions questioning the constitutionality of EO 2.