By YVONNE T. CHUA
OUTGOING President Gloria Arroyo has issued an executive order that would turn most government lawyers in the executive branch into career executive service officers (CESO) and guarantee them not only bigger pay and higher rank, but permanent appointment that incoming president Beningo Aquino III and future presidents may not revoke except for cause.
Executive Order 883 issued on May 28 authorizes the Career Executive Service Board (CESB) to initially confer on lawyers occupying legal positions in the government service the rank of CESO III.
CESO III is held by regional directors and has a corresponding Salary Grade 28 (nearly P40,000 a month) under the government compensation scheme.
Former Civil Service Commission Chair Karina Constantino-David told a forum of the Philippine Press Institute Thursday that EO 883 would mostly benefit lawyers in agencies such as the Department of Justice and Office of the Ombudsman.
Aquino earlier said he would task these offices to lead in his war on corruption. Commission on Human Rights Chair Leila de Lima has accepted Aquino’s offer to head the DOJ.
Although Aquino can revoke the executive order when he assumes office on June 30, he cannot withdraw the CESO III rank from government lawyers who would be given these by the CESB between now and Tuesday, said the former CSC chair.
The eight-member CESB is the governing body of the Career Executive Service (CES), which covers the top- or third-tier positions in national government agencies and state-owned corporations, including those of undersecretary, assistant secretary, bureau director, assistant bureau director, regional director, assistant director and department service chief.It is composed of the CSC chair, president of the Development Academy of the Philppines as ex-officio member and six others appointed by the President for a term of six years.
The CESB, currently chaired Retired Court of Appeals Associate Justice Bernado Abseamis, will reportedly meet on Tuesday to act on the appointments of several Arroyo political appointees.
If approved, the appointments will outlast Aquino’s six-year term in the presidency.”President-elect Aquino’s hands are tied. It’s GMA forever,” said Constantino-David, referring to Arroyo appointees.
In issuing EO 883, Arroyo cited as among her justifications the grant of CESO to government personnel who finish graduate programs such as Masters in Public Safety Administration (MPSA) and in National Security Administration (MNSA).
The order also cited the law profession as being “a specialized and highly technical field” which requires completion of a four-year graduate law program and passing the bar exams.
EO 883 is said to have been drafted by the DOJ where Arroyo appointed or promoted before the March 10 election ban on appointments a number of assistant secretaries and undersecretaries, including 31-year-old Ian Norman Dato, who used to be with Gabriel Claudio’s Office of the Presidential Political Adviser.
Noting that many political appointees in the DOJ are still in their 30s, Constantino-David said these can hold on to their offices until the official retirement age of 65 if they get CESO III, in effect blocking promotions of qualified personnel within the department.
She cited another effect of EO 883: “Everybody in the DOJ (will be) of the same rank. (But) bureaucracy is based on hierarchy.”
The order will also result in lawyers in government overtaking more senior government employees who lack a law degree, she said.
Constantino-David expressed fears of a comeback of political patronage as civil servants would start looking for patrons to advance their careers.
The former CSC chair noted a lowering of standards in the CES screening process in recent years that has resulted in unqualified civil servants becoming CES eligibles and eventually CESOs.
The CES operates on the rank concept, akin to the Armed Forces and the Foreign Service. The rank defines status and compensation of CESOs and their security of tenure.
To become eligible for the CES, applicants must pass the Management Aptitude Test Battery, a paper-and-pencil test that determines general intelligence and knowledge of management principles, and then a series of simulation exercises designed to measure their managerial capability and potential. Next come a formal interview by a CESB member or panel of members, and then a performance validation on the job.
Upon passing the exams, individuals are conferred CES eligibility and their names included in the roster of CES eligibles. It is from this list that the CESB recommends to the President those who should be given a CESO rank.
The CES has six ranks, which have corresponding salary grades that range from 25 to 30.
For incoming President Aquino, Constantino-David called for a review of the 300 “midnight” appointments his predecessor has issued in state-owned corporations and government financial institutions. She sought the strict enforcement of eligibility standards in the bureaucracy.
She also urged Aquino to delegate to Cabinet secretaries the President’s appointing powers over positions below assistant secretary and to stop appointments in an acting capacity. The President has the power to appoint about 4,000 positions.
Constantino-David said hundreds of Arroyo appointments issued by Arroyo since 2005 were in an acting capacity, making the holders of the positions beholden to her.
She also sought a stop to the presidential practice of issuing “desire letters” which, she said, “undermines professsionalism.
By desire letters, Constantino-David was referring to letters from the President stating her preference for certain people to be named to certain positions in government agencies.The letters usually begin with the words, “It is my desire…”