CSC no place for ‘puppets,’ new chair told
By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 09:38:00 07/26/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Militant government workers trooped to the Civil Service Commission central office on Friday and spray painted its walls with the slogan “No Puppets Allowed” to register their opposition to the appointment of former Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo as new CSC chair.
About 100 members of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees marched from the Batasan Pambansa Complex in Quezon City to the CSC during turnover rites marking Saludo’s first day at the constitutional body.
Courage president Ferdinand Gaite, in a statement, underscored the commission’s role as the state’s central personnel department and as overseer of the welfare and interests of the 1.4 million government employees.
As such, Gaite said, the CSC head at the very least “should be qualified or eligible, with background on legal and human resources management, incorruptible and independent and free from Malacañang’s dictates.”
“But Saludo’s appointment smacks of patronage politics. It was obviously given to him as a reward for being a consistent mouthpiece of Malacañang and a rabid supporter of the President,” Gaite added.
According to the Courage leader, Saludo has “no credentials to boast of” except being a media professional and a long time minute-taker of the Cabinet meetings, often bungling even the latter’s task.
In a press statement, Saludo said he is taking on a “gargantuan duty.”
“There is no way one person, even at the helm of the independent constitutional body overseeing more than a million public sector personnel, can dramatically alter age-old ways, structures, policies and practices of a mammoth, multi-level organization,” Saludo said in a press statement.
“But I have no doubt that I, like everyone of those twelve hundred thousand, can make a difference. How big a difference depends on how many of those mostly hardworking, dedicated, caring and intelligent souls will push the vision forward, along with our allies in the political arena, the society at large, the global community, and the broad citizenry,” he added.
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