Malacañang stops posting appointment papers of Duterte officials

In an article written by Pia Ranada on Rappler:

In another blow to transparency, the Palace leaves it up to officials whether or not to disclose their government appointment 

President Rodrigo Duterte's Malacañang has, for months, stopped proactively making public the appointment papers of new government officials. 

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque confirmed there was such a policy on Thursday, September 3, during a virtual press briefing. 

"Before, we’d post it. Now our policy in the OPS (Office of the Presidential Spokesperson) is it's up to the official to post it if they want. We just have to confirm if an appoinment has been made," said Roque. 

He was being asked to confirm if former National Bureau of Investigation chief Dante Gierran has been issued appointment papers because Gierran, said earlier on Thursday that he had not received them yet. 

The policy taking away proactive disclosure of appointments apparently came from Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. 

"It was the Executive Secretary [who] said that it's enough that we confirm appointments. We don't have to post appointment papers," said Roque. 

The rule was introduced sometime from October 2018 to April 2020, when Roque had not yet returned as Duterte spokesman. 

Roque insisted that despite the rule, Malacañang still lives up to Duterte's vow of transparency. 

"Well, there is still transparency because we confirm appointments but because the appointment paper is addressed to the appointee, it's up to the appointee if they want to publicize it," said Roque in Filipino.

---

General thoughts:

This really has something to do with government's transparency with the people that gets appointed an given power, which makes it questionable. It also lacks proper justification as to how the selection process is done, including what makes them qualified to take the job. Recently, I've been seeing a lot of ex-military officials being elected into several government offices even if they have no experience in doing the job, just like the case of how the story and corruption in PhilHealth is going. Is this an act to secretly help his friends get richer? When its the government who should be championing transparency and governance, it looks to me that they are the last one to really even consider this. Let me know what you think!