EDITORIAL — Just another political reward

Karina Constantino David must have hit a raw nerve. Yesterday Mala-cañang announced that President Arroyo had ordered the removal or transfer of about 20 political appointees. David, who chairs the Civil Service Commission, is stepping down at the end of the month after finishing her seven-year term. In a speech the other day, she lamented that under the Arroyo administration, politicization of the bureaucracy is at its worst, hindering good governance and the development of a professional bureaucracy.

David said the government has an excess of Cabinet undersecretaries and other officials, and Malacañang routinely ignored CSC warnings on the lack of qualifications of certain public servants up for promotion. She also noted that there were about 90 former military officers who have been appointed to government posts. Yesterday she said that of 3,500 career people who hold managerial positions in government, fewer than half have the required eligibility. In certain cases, David said, the distribution of government positions as political rewards was illegal.

In response, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, himself a former military officer, said about 20 presidential assistants, undersecretaries and directors would soon be removed or transferred on orders of the President. Malacañang, invoking presidential prerogative, has often brushed aside criticisms about political appointees. But David insists that even presidential prerogative has its limits and requires oversight.

The Palace released statements from two groups sympathetic to the President, criticizing David for passing the buck to the Chief Executive for failing to create a professional bureaucracy. The groups also accused David of overstepping the bounds of her authority. Whoever replaces David will likely face the same problems. Aware of criticisms that the CSC was overstepping its bounds, she had pushed for the passage of a law that would require presidential appointees to ranks lower than a Cabinet assistant secretary to meet civil service requirements. The bill has gathered dust.

The Arroyo administration has defied congressional oversight of presidential appointments, as enshrined in the Constitution, by rendering the Commission on Appointments irrelevant. This administration is even less likely to bow to CSC oversight. Like the pork barrel, appointments to government positions have become part and parcel of the system of political patronage. Government positions are given away as rewards for loyalty and political support, and never mind the adverse consequences to the nation. No CSC chief can buck a system that is perpetuated by the national leadership.