Lawyer Jose Calida’s stint as Commission on Audit (COA) chair has ended on Tuesday, Oct. 4, after he resigned from his post, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said.
“He tendered his resignation, partly, for many reasons, but it's up to him to later explain to you or publish to you what were his reasons,” the Palace official said.
While they accepted Calida’s resignation, they did so with “regret.”
“We commended him for his patriotism also for serving for a short while,” Bersamin added.
Palace is not set to name a new COA chief yet, he said, as not many know yet that Calida’s resignation has already been accepted.
“The spot that is available now is the lawyer spot,” he noted, sharing that there are two commissioners, who are Certified Public Accountants (CPA), being vetted.
But the state auditor’s Public Information Office (PIO) shared in a statement that Calida was not reappointed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“Please be advised that the Chairperson was one of the officials whose appointment was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments (CA),” the statement read.
The powerful CA is the panel composed of lawmakers from the House of Representatives and the Senate which evaluates and ultimately approves or rejects presidential appointees like Calida.
“Today, the President issued reappointment to 10 cabinet members, unfortunately, Chair Calida was not one of those reappointed,” it added.
Calida was among the four officials whose nominations were bypassed by CA last week. The others were Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles, Ivan John Uy of Information and Communications Technology, and Commissioner Nelson Celis of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
There were 10 Cabinet members reappointed by Marcos, who administered their oath-taking on Tuesday morning.
READ: Marcos reappoints 10 Cabinet members bypassed by CA
The PIO said COA will wait for Marcos to appoint the new head of the commission.
Also on Tuesday, Oct. 4, lawyer Trixie Cruz-Angeles stepped down from her post as press secretary because of health reasons.
Bersamin also clarified that former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez is no longer a part of the Marcos administration as opposed to reports that he would be the presidential chief-of-staff.