Over 4,000 Career Service Executives (CSEs) stand to lose their jobs if a Supreme Court dismissal decision is not reversed, according to the Public Attorney’s Office.
PAO chief Persida Acosta, at a media briefing, raised alarm over a decision of Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa of the First Division affirming the dismissal of a career officer of the
Dangerous Drugs Board— Maria Belen Angelita Matibag— or failure to comply with some eligibility procedures.
“There are more than 4,000 CSEs in the government who would lose their security of tenure should the decision of Caguiao becomes final and executory,” she told reporters.
The Supreme Court ruling would set a bad precedent, she stressed.
“PAO filed a second motion to challenge the SC ruling,” Acosta said.
She appealed to the high court to sit en banc to resolve the matter, saying over 4,000 CSEs from different government agencies could be asked to resign en masse.
On Jan. 22, 2020, the First Division affirmed Matibag’s dismissal as DDB executive director for operations on March 11, 2011.
Caguioa maintained that Matibag only possessed the Civil Service Executive Eligibility, and that she failed to prove she completed the last two stages of the examination process—written exam and board interview—under a resolution of the Career Executive Service Board (CESB).
He said Matibag’s position was only temporary.
But the PAO chief said Matibag was Civil Service eligible, and that qualified her under the 1987 Constitution based on “merit and fitness.”
“With due respect, contrary to the ruling, the CESB cannot, in any way, overrule and divest the Civil Service Commission of its constitutional and legal mandate. It is worthy to reiterate that the CESB is merely a body created by law to govern the Career Executive Service,” she said.
CSC Commissioner Aileen Lizada told Manila Standard in a text message that “CESB used to be under the CSC and is now under the Office of the President. Policy-making po kami for the entire bureaucracy. CESB does not create policies.
