---------------[ PCIJ Investigation )------

WHEN POLITICS POLLUTES CIVIL SERVICE
New CSC Chief Faces Pack of Ineligible Bureaucrats
by Isa Lorenzo and Malou Mangahas

LAST Monday, Malacañang announced the designation of Cabinet Secretary
Ricardo L. Saludo as chairperson of the Civil Service Commission. All
at once, critics raised howls of protest and called Saludo “a rabid
Arroyo lackey and anti-government employee.”

Newly appointed CSC chair Ricardo Saludo [photo courtesy of gov.ph]But
Saludo has a lot more than protesting civil servants to deal with. Our
latest report shows that Saludo himself tops a long list of political
appointees who have not secured eligibility credentials that the CSC
requires for career service executives.

Last January, Saludo rushed to the defense of President Arroyo after
his predecessor, Karina Constantino-David, decried the huge number of
ineligible appointees, a phenomenon that now cuts wider and deeper
across the bureaucracy.

In his new job as CSC chair, Saludo himself will have to parry
questions about his own lack of eligibility as top manager of the 1.4
million-strong civil service workforce.

The two-part investigative report delves into the virtual capture by
political appointees of senior government positions previously
reserved for career service personnel. The second part looks into the
costs and impact on governance, real and hidden, of political
appointments.

Read on at http://pcij.org
Post your comments at http://pcij.org/blog/?p=2124

SIDEBAR

Saludo Turns Around: 'Bloated Bureaucracy Clearly an Issue'
by Tita Valderama

THE Palace functionary who, almost three months ago, criticized then
Civil Service Commission (CSC) chair Karina Constantino-David for
attributing the government’s “bloated bureaucracy” to President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo’s unqualified appointees, has had a change of heart.

Nominated this week as new CSC chairperson, he acknowledges now that
the number of ineligible officials in the civil service is “clearly an
issue” that needs to be addressed.

Read on and post your comments at http://pcij.org/blog/?p=2301