A responsive President

Tuesday this week, I came across a news report about President Arroyo apparently heeding the plea of a union of Department of Foreign Affairs personnel who asked her to recall the appointment of Undersecretary for Migrant Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Conejos was named to the UN post to replace Ambassador Erlinda Basilio, who is supposed to retire on November 19. The Union of Foreign Service Officers (UFSO) protested his designation allegedly because this goes against the rules governing appointments to the foreign service, which provide that officers with less than three years left in the service should not be given foreign assignments. 

Conejos is said to be a political appointee and as such, his tenure as envoy to the UN will be co-terminus with that of the President whose term of office will end on June 30 next year. He will thus be staying in that position for just about seven months. It was also said that his designation violates the Foreign Service Act of 1991 which mandates that majority of Philippine diplomatic and permanent missions should be headed by career ambassadors.  

The union said also the government will spend some $70,000 (P3.34 million) to send a new ambassador to Geneva and install him in that post. The inference is that the amount will be practically wasted once Conejos is replaced after a new President takes office next year. The UFSO said the money can be better used for the benefit of the hundreds of thousands still reeling from three destructive typhoons that visited the country in quick succession. 

What struck me in this report is the seeming openness of the President to listen to an appeal from people in the bureaucracy, and her willingness to correct what appears to be a misjudgment of the situation.

This is a significant development that should give hope to some officials of the Bureau of Customs who are likewise protesting the promotion and appointment of a new customs collector. 

Several newspapers have carried reports and commentaries over President Arroyo’s designation of lawyer Rogel Gatchalian as Customs Collector VI, with exclusive jurisdiction over the Port of Manila. His appointment as district collector of this premiere port drew protests from five other collectors who wrote President Arroyo and asked that Gatchalian’s appointment be withdrawn.

The five are Teresita Roque, NAIA deputy collector for administration and passenger service; Remedios Espinosa, Manila International Container Port deputy collector for assessment; Juan Tan, collector of the Port of Batangas; Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang, head of the BOC X-Ray Inspection Project; and Arnel Alcaraz, whom Gatchalian replaced as Collector of the Port of Manila. Except for Roque, all are lawyers and hold the rank of Collector V.  

It appears that Gatchalian is a relative newcomer and entered the BOC only on Feb. 20, 2007 as Attorney III. But he almost immediately raised eyebrows when he was promoted in rank to Attorney V in July 31, 2009, jumping over the Attorney IV position, after only two years and five months in the service.

But what really riled other Customs officials and employees is that, two months later, Gatchalian was promoted again to Collector VI on October 6 this year, bypassing several other collectors presumably more senior than him. The man is reportedly trumpeting his purported accomplishment as head of the Run-After-The-Smugglers (RATS) program funded by the US Millennium Challenge Corporation.

However, this US agency reportedly gave notice late last month that it is cutting off the funds and will no longer support the RATS program because it has woefully failed to meet expectations, and majority of the cases that it filed against alleged smugglers have been dismissed by the DOJ for lack of evidence.

Gatchalian’s two promotions in less than three years have severely affected the morale not only of the people he bypassed, but also of the other officials and employees who have been in the service for a far longer period but have yet to receive their own promotion. There are speculations that this demoralization could further take its toll on the collection of the BOC that has already suffered a P36 billion shortfall in its P201.42 billion target for the first nine months of this year.

The protesting officials cited a number of reasons why they are questioning the lawyer’s appointment — and these are indeed very serious reasons. Among them is the fact that Gatchalian is allegedly facing a string of unresolved graft charges and administrative complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The cases were filed by the Revenue Integrity Protection Service of the Department of Finance. This is on top of the disbarment case filed against him and two other lawyers before the Supreme Court by the Professional Customs Brokers of the Philippines, Inc. The case has been referred to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines for investigation and proper disposition. It is docketed as Case No. 8066.

 There are equally serious concerns about the qualifications of Gatchalian to the post of POM district collector. Among other things, the position requires three years of experience in a supervisory capacity, plus the attendant eligibility as a Career Executive Service Officer (CESO), both of which he does not possess.

It is said that he does not have the slightest experience in matters relating to customs assessment and customs operations. The protesting officials contend that his being a lawyer does not qualify him for the post as he does not even have the training and basic experience as Collector I, let alone of the much higher rank of Collector VI.

They point out that Gatchalian could not have acquired the needed experience since the functions pertaining to Customs assessment and operations are not even part of his job as Attorney III or Attorney V.

On the surface alone, the protests against Gatchalian’s appointment to a highly sensitive post in a key revenue generating arm seem to be anchored on strong grounds. Should Gatchalian bomb out in performance due to his alleged lack of training and experience for the position, this could impact negatively on the revenue expectations of the government.

Finance Secretary Gary Teves was reported as having expressed fears that the shortfall in income may overshoot the programmed budget deficit for 2009, already adjusted upward to P300 billion from P250 billion. Should that happen, Secretary Teves may have to reexamine his decision on why he allowed the promotion of this person.  

Related to that, how does the government expect to adequately fund the services that it is expected to render to our people? This is not to mention the huge amount needed for the repair and rehabilitation of the damage caused by Typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi. Clearly therefore, it is not only the protesting Customs officials and the complaining Customs brokers, but the public at large as well, who have a stake in this case.

I pose these questions not only as part of the public that the government is sworn to serve, but also in my capacity as a taxpayer. But I hold the hope that if, indeed, the protesting Customs officials are correct, the President would be as responsive as she was, and would uphold public interest as she did, in the less odious case of DFA Undersecretary Conejos.

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