CESB’S appeal to maintain its independence fails
The Senate has effectively killed the last ditch attempt of the Career Executive Service Board (CESB) to maintain its status as an independent body.
After failing to convince President Aquino to veto the bill passed by Congress to place the CESB under the control and supervision of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the CESB sought the assistance of Congress to undo what it did last February.
Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said that the leadership of the House of Representatives was approached by the CESB to ask for the passage of a joint resolution to repeal the bill.
In the Senate, the measure was filed as Senate Bill 2671, principally authored by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, which was approved in March last year.
Last Feb. 7, the House decided to adopt Senate Bill 2671, which facilitated its approval and transmittal to the President for signing into law.
The enrolled copy of the bill was transmitted to the President last March 13.
Sotto said that the House leadership wanted to find out the sense of the Senate about holding a caucus with them regarding the appeal of the CESB, which he brought up with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday.
“No, no, no... We passed that already so why should we reverse that?” Enrile said.
“They asked the President to veto the bill and he did not want to veto and we are going to override? It’s funny,” he added.
Sotto said that the appeal was made through CESB chairman, retired Court of Appeals justice Bernardo Abesamis.
Enrile recalled that the CESB was created during the time of the late President Ferdinand Marcos to establish a career system in government.
“We have reorganized government under a new Constitution. The Civil Service Commission, that handles the entire civil service and that body (CESB) ought to be under the Civil Service,” Enrile said.