24 Customs officials nix ‘resign’ call

Some 24 appointees of ousted President Joseph Estrada at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) are sticking to their guns and to their posts.

The officials have stubbornly refused to heed what they called an "improper and uncalled for" order by former BOC chief Renato Ampil Monday last week for them to submit their courtesy resignation because they are career officials.

"There is no written order from Malacañang nor from the Department of Finance (DOF). This is all an initiative of Ampil. We will not resign. Nobody has resigned," they chorused.

Ampil issued a memo last Monday directing the 24 presidential appointees to submit their courtesy resignations "not later than 5 p.m. of Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2001."

As of 5 p.m. last Friday, The STAR gathered that nobody had followed the order.

Sources said the list was issued by personnel chief Arsenia Ilagan allegedly on orders of Ampil but did not pass the head of the administration division, lawyer Magdalena Soriano.

While admitting they are indeed presidential appointees, they said they are also career officials whose security of tenure is ensured not only by pertinent Civil Service Rules and Regulations but primarily guaranteed by the Constitution itself.

"The career employees feel that this kind of resignation is an act of waiver on their part. We are certainly unwilling to do this because the Constitution assures us of security of tenure," one of the officials said.

Soriano distinguished between presidential appointees who are career officials and those who are outsiders.

She said that there are positions in the career service (open to insiders) that need presidential appointment. She said this concerns especially those with Salary Grade 25 and above, from director to collector level which are managerial positions.

Plain political appointees are "outsiders" or non-career officials, did not rise from the ranks and are co-terminus with the President who appointed them. – Jerry Botial