DOJ chief denies Abcede is new PCGG OIC

Contrary to his earlier announcement, Presidential Commission on Good Government commissioner Ricardo Abcede will not take over as the agency's officer-in-charge or OIC. Last week, Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima nullified Abcede's own memorandum order declaring himself the PCGG's temporary head after former chair Camilo Sabio resigned. “The DOJ is tasked with bringing true and complete justice to all. This means that we must always act in accordance with the facts and the law. We cannot take shortcuts. So we will look carefully into the records of the PCGG, in order to accurately determine who the next OIC should be," De Lima said in a statement over the weekend. "Let no one preempt our decision. Let this be a clear warning that no designation as OIC will be valid, without the express and written approval of the Secretary of Justice," she added. The PCGG, an attached agency of the Justice Department, was the first agency created by the late president Corazon Aquino when she assumed power in 1986. Its first chair was former Senator Jovito Salonga, a Liberal Party stalwart. De Lima said her department is still studying the next-in-rank and most senior officials of the PCGG in connection with Malacañang's Memorandum Circular No. 1 declaring vacant all top government positions occupied by appointees of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and are non-career executive service officers or CESO. All the vacated positions will be taken over by the most senior CESO in each affected agency, who will act as officer-in-charge until July 31, 2010 or until a replacement has been appointed, according to the memo. The same circular extended to July 31 the term of employees with contracts expiring on June 30, 2010, unless otherwise terminated or renewed by the heads of their respective agencies. On July 14, Abcede issued a memo saying he "shall serve as officer-in-charge, being the most senior commissioner in the organization, until a new PCGG chairman or any new commissioner is appointed." But the next day, De Lima declared as null and void Abcede's memo. She likewise asked the PCGG commissioner to explain why he issued the memorandum without her approval. Abcede replied by issuing another memorandum recognizing De Lima's decision voiding his assumption as the PCGG’s OIC. In 2008, the PCGG was embroiled in a controversy when Sabio was accused of incurring about $1 million in travel expenses. —VS, GMANews.TV