COURAGE SLAMS CABINET ‘MUSICAL CHAIRS’

Submitted by courage_phil on Mon, 01/11/2010 - 06:42.

The Confederation for Unity,
Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), a militant
national center of state workers, expressed today its vehement opposition to
the recent appointment of then-Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque
III as chair of the Civil Service Commission (CSC). Government employees said
that Mrs. Arroyo has desperately resorted to recycling her loyal cabinet secretaries
just to ensure her favourable stance for the 2010 elections.

 

Duque replaced Ricardo Saludo whose
appointment was formally rejected by the Commission on Appointments (CA) last
September, citing his failure to meet the minimum requirements for the post as
basis for their resolution. COURAGE through its president Ferdinand Gaite filed
a sworn opposition to the CA against Saludo’s appointment.

 

Gaite reiterated that the CSC chair,
being the main overseer of the welfare and interests of the more than 1.4
million state workers, must not be bound to Malacañang’s dictates and should
have a reputation that is not tainted with even the slightest issue of
corruption. “The intolerable and widespread corruption primarily perpetuated by
Mrs. Arroyo and her allies has caused the demoralization among rank-and-file
employees. To salvage the rotting status of the Arroyo government, someone who
is incorruptible and independent must be assigned to head the state’s central
personnel department. Duque may not exactly be the man we are looking for,”
Gaite said.

 

The militant group claimed that Duque must
be held accountable for the questionable distribution of Philhealth cards when
he was still the agency’s chief. It was reported that OFW money (from OWWA)
were used to finance the massive distribution of Philhealth cards for the purpose
of furthering Arroyo’s re-election in 2004.

 

“Given his past record of being Arroyo’s
lackey in implementing her dirty campaign strategies, we now fear that government
resources and employees will be blatantly utilized to serve the campaign of administration
candidates. It will be easier this time for the Arroyo administration to
manipulate the whole bureaucracy for their own political ambitions since the
supposedly government’s watchdog is under the governance of one of her most
rabid puppets,” Gaite expressed.

 

COURAGE also hit Duque’s excessive
spending of public funds for the DOH’s infomercials. The Commission on Audit’s
financial records showed that the DOH tri-media campaign has amounted to P32.4 million.
Duque was one the cabinet men grilled for promoting his candidacy in the guise
of infomercials discussing various government programs. “He may have backed out
from the senatorial race but this does not mean that he is cleared from accusations
of wasting the people’s money. The millions of pesos spent on advertisements
should have been re-channelled to more tangible healthcare programs. In this
way, the people will better enjoy the fruits of their taxes,” added Gaite.

 

The group vowed to formally question
Duque’s appointment vis-a-vis his involvement in the Philhealth fiasco before
the CA. “We shall also intensify our campaign against Arroyo’s appalling practice
of by-passing career service officers to favour her political appointees,”
Gaite ended. #