“Thank you, at least it lessened my headaches,” Aquino told reporters.
The incoming president had earlier expressed his intention to invalidate all or most of the midnight appointments made by President Arroyo.
However, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said that Aquino should study the issue of midnight appointments very carefully.
“They have to be careful with this principle that is now being bandied around that the power to hire includes the power to fire because there are many, many exceptions to that rule,” Santiago said, adding that it was normal for an incoming administration to want to appoint its own people to positions in government, even if it would reach more than 4,000.
“They do not all quit on June 30. Under administrative law, they all stay in office at the risk of being sued for abandonment of public office until after their successors have been appointed and taken their oath.
So they’ll just have to remain in office until their successors are appointed by President Aquino. He cannot possibly appoint 4,500 people before the deadline of June 30,” Santiago said.
But she also stressed that an outgoing president should not be filling up positions anymore so as not to “tie the hands of his successor by filling up all the appointments on the eve of the start of the period of the ban.”
“All of these will make a good test case on the principle of midnight appointments. In the first place, these people should never have pressured the President to give them those appointments because they’re already questionable, and in the second place, even if they had been extended, spontaneously by the President, they should have had the good sense to turn it down and wait for the next president to appoint them if he is so inclined,” Santiago said.
No pressure
Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza confirmed the resignation but did not provide any reason for Genuino’s decision, except that it was actually an early retirement.
“He filed his letter of retirement last June 1 and I have forwarded it to the President for her acceptance and approval,” Mendoza said.
He said Genuino also expressed in his letter his gratitude to the President for her trust and confidence in him and a breakdown of his accomplishments as Pagcor head.
Malacañang had earlier defended the appointment of Genuino and four Pagcor board members, saying these happened on March 9, or the eve of the start of the constitutional ban on midnight appointments.
Mendoza said that several other resignations have been submitted to the President, mostly from ambassadors and officials of the executive branch.
Pagcor spokesman Edward King said there was no pressure on Genuino to resign amid warnings from the incoming Aquino government that his transactions in the agency during his nine-year term would be investigated.
“There was no pressure in his decision. He filed his retirement papers as early as May 28, shortly after the election,” King said in a radio interview.
In his letter to President Arroyo, Genuino thanked the President “for her complete trust and confidence.”
“I leave Pagcor with mixed emotions: sad, because I have learned to love Pagcor; and happy, because I have served a great leader, Your Excellency,” he said.
King, however, said that Genuino is willing to help the next administration in whatever capacity is needed.
He also urged the next administration to continue the $15-billion Entertainment City project of Genuino, saying that this would create thousands of jobs for Filipinos.
“It is his hope that the new government would use this towards hastening the country’s economic recovery and progress,” King said.
Delicadeza
Genuino’s resignation was lauded by Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, who were earlier critical of President Arroyo’s midnight appointments.
“At the very least, he exhibits a sense of delicadeza, which is a disappearing virtue among public servants,” Pimentel said.
Estrada said resigning is “the right thing to do” and hoped that “all the appointees of GMA will follow suit.”
“There are many thick-faced appointees who want to cling to their posts,” Estrada added in a text message.
Sen. Richard Gordon, one of Aquino’s fiercest foes in the last presidential elections, turned into an unlikely ally and gave his full backing to Aquino’s choice of new Cabinet secretaries.
Gordon, who had also previously served as Tourism Secretary, said Aquino would likely make the right and good decisions in choosing the next Cabinet members, particularly the new Tourism chief.
“I am leaving it to the incoming president. I am very sure he will make a good decision for our country and hopefully they would be able to fix the problem of our country,” he said.
“We will not always be fighting. I am willing to give my help if they would need it,” Gordon added.
Some tourism stakeholders earlier expressed their opposition to the possible appointment of music artist Jim Paredes as Tourism secretary.
Sources from the Aquino camp confirmed that Paredes is among those being considered for the Tourism portfolio, aside from Shangri-La Group chief executive officer Andy Bautista.
Gordon said he will not be making any recommendation for Tourism secretary, but he is ready to help if they would ask for it. – Marvin Sy, Christina Mendez, Helen Flores, Mayen Jaymalin - By Aurea Calica
Letters of Resignation
