I'm no midnight appointee, Justice official says

Justice Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar clarified that he is not a midnight appointee of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as reported by a broadsheet. Salazar said Arroyo's conferment of the Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) Rank I on him on June 10 did not fall within the restricted period for such promotion. Citing a Commission on Elections (Comelec) directive, Salazar said the ban on conferment of rank lapses after Election Day, May 10. "The conferment of a CESO rank is not an appointment; it's a conferment of additional benefits. The ban only covers March 10 [should be March 26] until May 10," Salazar told GMANews.TV in an interview. Section 1(b) of Comelec Resolution No. 8737 says that promotions are prohibited from March 26 to May 10. On Wednesday, Malacañang issued Executive Order No. 2 to void the so-called midnight appointments made by the previous administration. On Thursday, broadsheet Manila Standard Today listed Salazar among the midnight appointees and placed his photo on the front page. Malacañang's EO No. 2 covers one of the following: "Appointments and promotions made during the period of 45 days prior to the May 10, 2010 elections in violation of Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code." Aquino's reappointment Salazar likewise said that questions on the validity of his CESO rank has become moot because President Benigno Aquino III reappointed him on July 7, a week after Aquino assumed the presidency. "This is a recognition that he [Aquino] wants me to stay on, and stay with his government," said the undersecretary. Earlier in the day, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima also came to Salazar's defense and chastised the Manila Standard Today for its report. "I just want to correct the misinformation. He [Salazar] is definitely not a midnight appointee," De Lima said at a news briefing, adding that it was "unfair" of the broadsheet to post Salazar's photo on the front page. She added that her department is checking whether another undersecretary and two assistant secretaries are midnight appointees. They were supposedly named to their posts during the constitutional ban, which began two months before the elections and ceased when the former president's term ended. This year, the restricted period began on March 11 and ended on June 30. She did not identify the DOJ officials whose appointments are in question. –VVP/KBK, GMANews.TV