CA:Recall of 21 appointments in N. Vizcaya valid

By Manny Galvez

SAN JOSE CITY, Nueva Ecija – The Court of Appeals has upheld the order of a former governor of Nueva Vizcaya recalling the appointments and promotions of 21 capitol employees.

In a ruling released recently, the CA upheld Executive Order 3 issued by former governor Ruth Padilla revoking the appointments and promotions issued by her predecessor, Luisa Cuaresma, who is now a congresswoman.

Records showed Cuaresma signed the appointments and promotions shortly before the 2013 elections.

The appellate court also reversed a subsequent Civil Service Commission (CSC) order directing Padilla to reinstate the employees and pay their back wages.

The CA described as “illegal, null and void” the appointments made by Cuaresma, saying these circumvented the law.

A few months earlier, the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed for lack of probable cause and evidence charges of grave abuse of authority and corrupt practices against Padilla and provincial legal officer Voltaire Garcia.

The cases stemmed from a complaint filed by the employees before the CSC, questioning Padilla’s authority to revoke their appointments and promotions. The CSC ruled in favor of the employees.

In reversing the CSC ruling, the CA said Cuaresma violated the Civil Service Law, Local Government Code and Omnibus Election Code when she signed the appointments and promotions of the employees.

“It also manifested the intention of outgoing governor Cuaresma to defeat the law on midnight appointments,” the CA said.

The court said the employees, who were holding permanent appointments, should be reverted to their original positions.

Mete out justice against perpetrators of Lumad leaders killing

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the Filipino people condemn in the strongest terms the successive killings last week of Lumad leaders and para-teachers in Davao and Cotabato.
Danny Diarog, tribal chieftain of the BagoboK'lata tribe and HermieAlegre, Parent-Teacher-Community Association president of Salugpungan school in SitioKahusayan, Barangay Dianga, Tugbok District, Davao City, were shot at around 2 p.m. last July 15 by motorcycle-riding men at SitioKagaspan while on their way home from a meeting with the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP). Alegre died on the spot while Diarog is fighting for his life in a hospital.

Earlier, FaharaKabuntalan La, 29, and SittieUsop Abdullah, 31, were shot dead while AisahKaron Malugka, 34, was wounded by masked suspects on a motorcycle in Cotabato City. All three were teachers at Mokamad Ali Elementary School in Barangay Tamontaka 4. The tricycle driver, FahadAbdulwahid Abdullah, 21, was also wounded in the gun attack that occurred in full public view.
          These recent killings are clearly part of the continuing campaign of violence and suppression of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and its paramilitary forces against the Lumad people under the OplanBayanihan. The Lumads of Mindanao have long been subjected to the worst forms of human rights violations and intensified oppression since the last few years of the Aquino regime’s OplanBayanihan.

All concerned revolutionary organizations have been mobilized to immediately carry out an investigation and identify the perpetrators and masterminds of these dastardly crimes.
The CPP urges the local authorities of the people's democratic government to file appropriate charges against the criminal suspects at the soonest possible opportunity in order for the people's courts to issue the necessary warrants for their arrest and detention and ensure the swift dispensation of justice.

At the same time, the CPP urges the Duterte regime to immediately carry out its own steps to put to justice the perpetrators of the killings and end the continuing campaign of suppression being carried out by the AFP against the Lumad people.

The CPP further calls on the Duterte regime to put a stop to the continuing campaign of the Philippine Army, the CAFGU and paramilitary groups to sow terror among the villages, killing indigenous people’s leaders, destroying their schools, disrupting their livelihood.
        Oplan Bayanihan is a campaign designed to crush the Lumads’ opposition to the wholesale plunder of their ancestral lands. Today, even as numerous killings and evacuations remain unresolved, big mining companies, plantations, loggers and big business continue to seize Lumad land.

President Duterte has time and again declared his intention of bringing peace to Mindanao. The Lumad people expect much from Duterte to immediately carry out positive measures to address their plight, secure the Lumad's ancestral lands against big foreign mining companies, disband the paramilitary units and withdraw the Philippine Army units in order to put an end to widespread militarization of civilian communities.