PCO appointees asked to submit resignations
President Marcos’ appointees at the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) and its attached agencies and state-run firms were ordered to submit their “unqualified courtesy resignations” to allow PCO acting Secretary Jay Ruiz a free hand in “performing his duties and functions.”
In a memorandum dated Feb. 25, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin gave the incumbent appointees at Malacañang’s premier communications arm until Friday, Feb. 28, to quit their posts.
However, a copy of the memorandum furnished to the Inquirer showed that the directive was received by one of the PCO’s attached state-run firms only on Feb. 27, or a day before the deadline. A source also confirmed to the Inquirer that the memorandum was only downloaded to offices on Feb. 27.
“In the exigency of service, and in order to give the new PCO secretary a free hand in performing his duties and functions, all incumbent presidential appointees in agencies, offices and bureaus under the PCO are hereby directed to render their UNQUALIFIED COURTESY RESIGNATIONS, subject to existing laws, rules and regulations,” Bersamin’s memorandum read.
The directive covered presidential appointees in PCO agencies, offices and bureaus “whose appointments are not permanent.” It also applied to presidential appointees in government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) attached to the PCO “whose appointments are in acting capacity, as well as those who are in holdover status.”
Courtesy resignations in the government usually apply to coterminous appointees, which means that their appointment is coexistent with the tenure of the President or the appointing officer or authority. This usually covers undersecretaries down to directors of government agencies and the heads of attached agencies and GOCCs.
