New CSC chief faces pack of ineligible bureaucrats

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.”

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 pcij.org.