EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 17
EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 17 -
PRESCRIBING RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF Sec. 2,
ARTICLE III OF THE FREEDOM CONSTITUTION
WHEREAS, Sec. 2, Article III of
the Freedom Constitution provides that “all elective and appointive
officials under the 1973 Constitution shall continue in office until
otherwise provided by proclamation or executive order upon the
designation or appointment and qualification of their successors, if
such appointment is made within the period of one year from February
25, 1986”;
WHEREAS, in order to obviate unnecessary anxiety and demoralization
among the deserving officials and employees, particularly in the career
civil service, it is necessary to prescribe the rules and regulations
for implementing the said constitutional provision to protect career
civil servants whose qualifications and performance meet the standards
of service demanded by the New Government, and to ensure that only
those found corrupt, inefficient and undeserving are separated from the
government service;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Republic of the
Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Freedom
Constitution, do hereby order:
Section 1. In the course of implementing Article III,
Sec. 2 of the Freedom Constitution, the Head of each Ministry shall
see to it that the separation or replacement of officers and employees
is made only for justifiable reasons, to prevent indiscriminate
dismissals of personnel in the career civil service whose
qualifications and performance meet the standards of public service of
the New Government.
Any office, agency, instrumentality or government-owned or controlled
corporation, which is not attached to any ministry, including any of
the constitutional commissions and state colleges and universities,
shall be considered a ministry for purposes of this Order.
The Ministry concerned shall adopt its own rules and procedures for the
review and assessment of its personnel, including the identification of
sensitive positions which require more rigid assessment of the
incumbents, and shall complete such review/assessment as expeditiously
as possible but not later than February 24, 1987 to prevent undue
demoralization in the public service.
Sec. 2. The Ministry Head concerned, on the basis
of such review and assessment, shall determine who shall be separated
from the service. Thereafter, he shall issue to the official or
employee concerned a notice of separation which shall indicate therein
the reason/s or ground/s for such separation and the fact that the
separated official or employee has the right to file a petition for
reconsideration pursuant to this Order. Separation from the service
shall be effective upon receipt of such notice, either personally by
the official or employee concerned or on his behalf by a person of
sufficient discretion.
Sec. 3. The following shall be the grounds for
separation/replacement of personnel:
1)
Existence of a case for summary dismissal pursuant to Sec. 40 of the
Civil Service Law;
2) Existence
of a probable cause for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt
Practices Act as determined by the Ministry Head concerned;
3) Gross
incompetence or inefficiency in the discharge of functions;
4) Misuse of
public office for partisan political purposes;
5) Any other
analogous ground showing that the incumbent is unfit to remain in the
service or his separation/replacement is in the interest of the service.
Sec. 4. No court shall issue any restraining order
or writ of preliminary injunction to enjoin the separation/replacement
of any official or employee in the government service pursuant to this
Order.
Sec. 5. There is hereby created a Committee which
shall act on all petitions for reconsideration filed by any official or
employee separated from the service pursuant to this Order. The
Committee shall be composed of the Minister of Justice, as Chairman,
and the Executive Secretary, the Minister of the Budget, the Minister
for Government Reorganization, the Chairman of the Civil Service
Commission, and the Chairman of the Commission on Audit, or their duly
designated representatives, as Members. The Committee shall be assisted
by such number of hearing officers as it may designate.
Sec. 6. A petition for reconsideration may be
filed with the Committee by the separated official or employee within
ten (10) days from receipt of the notice of separation. In the case of
those already separated from the service upon the issuance of this
Order, including those whose resignations were accepted or whose
successors have been appointed/designated, the petition shall be filed
within ten (10) days from date of publication of this Order in a
newspaper of general circulation.
Sec. 7. The Committee shall adopt its rules of
procedure, provided that proceedings in the Committee shall be summary
in nature. The decision of the Ministers concerned shall be final if
not reversed or modified by the Committee within thirty (30) days from
receipt of the petition for reconsideration. No permanent appointment
shall be issued to replace an incumbent who is separated pursuant to
this Order until the expiration of the aforementioned thirty-day period
or the denial of the petition for reconsideration.
Sec. 8. The decision of the Committee shall be
final. No request for reconsideration shall be entertained.
Sec. 9. If the questioned separation from the
service is reversed, the petitioner shall be reinstated to his former
position, or shall be appointed to a position of comparable rank and
salary in the Ministry or Bureau or office under said Ministry. In such
cases, the petitioner shall be considered on vacation leave of absence
without pay during the time he was out of the service.
Sec. 10. For purposes of this Order,
appointment/designations of ministry or bureau assistant regional
directors and officials of equivalent or lower rank shall be made by
the Minister concerned.
Sec. 11. This Executive Order shall not apply to
elective officials or those designated to replace them, presidential
appointees, casual and contractual employees, or officials and
employees removed pursuant to disciplinary proceedings under the Civil
Service Law and rules, and to those laid off as a result of the
reorganization undertaken pursuant to Executive Order
No. 5.
Sec. 12. The amount of Five Hundred Thousand Pesos
(P500,000.00) is hereby allotted from the Special Activities Fund for
the effective implementation of this Order.
Sec. 13. This Executive Order shall take effect
immediately.
DONE in the City of Manila,
this 28th day of May, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and
eighty-six.
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Since 19.07.98.