Deputy Speaker and Cagayan De Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said that the chairmanships of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the Commission on Audit (COA), and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) will be vacated on Saturday, June 4, and not on June 30, following the sine die adjournment of the 18th Congress.
Read more here: https://mb.com.ph/2022/06/01/ca-bypasses-coa-csc-comelec-appointees/
The vacated posts include the chairman and two commissioners of the Comelec; and chairmen of the COA and the CSC; all of whom were appointed by incumbent President Duterte.
“By operation of the Constitution and the CA rules, these positions become vacant upon the adjournment of the session of Congress,” Rodriguez said on Friday, June 3.
The 18th Congress of the Philippines adjourned sine die last June 1 while the official adjournment of the legislative calendar is June 4.
“So today is the last day in office of the concerned officials,” he added.
“I think the President will choose the first option and let his successor fill the Comelec, COA and CSC vacancies, in the same manner that the CA bypassed the appointees to give the incoming President that same opportunity,” Rodriguez said.
The CDO solon cited Section 16, Article VII of the Constitution pertaining to the executive department and its rules on presidential appointees: “The President shall have the power to make appointments during the recess of the Congress, whether voluntary or compulsory, but such appointments shall be effective only until after disapproval by the Commission on Appointments or until the next adjournment of the Congress.”
“By then, the new President will already have assumed office and he will have a free hand in appointing or nominating constitutional officers,” Rodriguez concluded.