Malacañang is taking time to finish its rigid scrutiny of potential Palace nominees to a number of looming vacancies in key government posts, including at least four Constitutional Commissions, that President Aquino must submit to Congress for confirmation soon enough.
“We are working on it,” Palace Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. told the BusinessMirror, when asked if the Palace was ready to fill the void that Mr. Aquino is expected to fill with competent appointees with known integrity.
Coloma, however, did not divulge the names of candidates in the Palace list of possible replacements from which Aquino was to pick those the President would endorse to undergo confirmation proceedings at the Commission of Appointments.
The Palace is pressed for time to fast-track screening new appointees as incumbents in vital government bodies started to be vacated by retired incumbents, beginning with Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. who stepped down early this week, along with Commission on Audit Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan. Butch Fernandez
Two other incumbent Comelec Commissioners – Elias Yusoph and Lucenito Tagle – also gone into retirement creating a major vaccuum in the poll body as it prepares for the upcoming 2016 national elections even as it continues to hear and resolve pending poll protest cases from previous elections.
It was reported that Comelec Commissioner Robert Lim was named acting chairman of the poll body while Commissioner Heidi Mendoza temporarily takes over as COA acting chair.
Also facing vacancies in top posts are the Commission on Human Rights and the Civil Service Commission.