Amicable settlement of Erap-Yasay dispute - Roses And Thorns

We are always glad whenever political disputes are settled justly and amicably. So we were pleased to read that President Estrada had conceded that Perfecto Yasay Jr. could keep his post as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission because his seven-year tenure of office is guaranteed by the law. Earlier, Yasay announced that he was willing to step down after Congress enacts the Securities Act of 1999 which is expected to be passed this week by the House of Representatives and ratified by the bicameral conference committee next week.

When the Palace asked Yasay to resign, he said, "My resignation is not a problem -- if the President feels I should resign. I just want to make sure that my resignation will help him, otherwise, I will not be acceding what he wants me to do." Now that the President has admitted that he enjoys security of tenure, we sincerely hope that Yasay changes his mind about retiring and continues to serve his country as SEC Chairman. The administration cannot afford to lose the good men we have in office. Partisan politics must never get in the way of good administration.

Only a few days ago, Josefina Lichauco irrevocably resigned from her position as Undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Communication. Presisdent Estrada said that she had presented her irrevocable resignation because she knew he was going to fire her. Undersecretary Lichauco could not be fired. She is a Career Executive Service Official that cannot be removed without cause. Undersecretary Lichauco was going to resume the presidency of the International Telecommunications Union this year, but now she has had to inform the Secretary-General of the ITU to get another candidate from another developing country. President Estrada will have a hard time finding a person who can take her place in the DOTC.

Lichauco is a holder of a Master of Laws degree from Yale University and has served honestly and very efficiently under four presidents. This is the second time that she resigns from office. The first was when she resigned from the Marcos regime after the assassination of Ninoy Aquino. Can the reason behind her resignation under the present regime be that she sees a relation between the Marcos and the Estrada regime?

A telecommunication expert from the University of the Philippines said that her resignation was "a big blow to the telecom sector. Very few regulators know their jobs. Now they have become fewer still. It's back to square one for the industry."

President Estrada has publicly admitted that he is having problems attracting good people to government service. We think his problem goes deeper. He is unwittingly driving good men out of public service. We hope he moves to retain Yasay in office. It is too late to do that with Lichauco because the resignation she tendered was irrevocable.