MANILA, July 7 (PNA) – Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo on Wednesday said that Philippine envoys on political appointments in their respective foreign posts have been given no later than September to wind up their affairs and return to the Philippines and tender courtesy resignations.

He added this decision has been approved by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. without giving more details. The move, he noted, was supported by President Benigno Aquino III, to whom he proposed the extension based on the requests of the concerned envoys.

Romulo himself, a long-time Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary in the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that ended on June 30, was reappointed to the post by President Aquino though he is not yet confirmed by the still-to-be reconstituted congressional Commission on Appointments.

All politically-appointed ambassadors are presumed to hold co-terminus tours of duty with the President unless these are renewed, as in Romulo’s case, by the successor.

In a press conference today, Romulo admitted that he has recently issued a recall order for some 20 such diplomats and gave them only three months, or until September, “to clear up their desks, bid their host-countries goodbye, pack their belongings” and head home to Manila.

“Three months could give them a chance” to do all that’s needed to be done for a smooth return,” he told reporters.

Romulo declined to give the names of the envoys, but noted that six of those recalled have returned to Manila, while three to five “have expressed their desire to return.”

Former DFA Secretary and ambassador to Tokyo, Domingo Siazon, a career diplomat who remained with the DFA as a political appointee on his retirement, is one of those who have returned and seen at the DFA.

A top-ranked political appointee who has not yet showed up is former DFA Secretary and ambassador to Germany, Delia Albert. She was also a career foreign service officer who remained with the DFA on her retirement.

The three-month extension contradicted a much earlier recall order by Romulo, done just weeks after his Arroyo co-terminus appointment was to expire on June 30 -- which stated that the AEPs (ambassador and envoy extraplenipotentiary) must leave posts by that date and will not receive emoluments for services rendered after that date.

However, through the UNIFORS (Union of Foreign Service Officers) of DFA, headed by Assistant Secretary Victoria Bataclan, career diplomats raised issues against the way the AEPS were being recalled.

UNIFORS also asserted that Romulo’s own reappointment breaks many well-entrenched traditions in the foreign service corps and asked that Aquino reconsider the major cabinet appointment because of Romulo’s age and alleged poor performance.

DFA spokesperson Eduardo Malaya, whose possible appointment as “ambassador to an important country” was announced by Romulo at the same press meeting, described the extension as one in “holdover capacity.”

”The extension of the tour of duty is consistent with law and the practice of previous Presidents, notably during the transition from the Aquino administration to the Ramos administration and from the Ramos to the Estrada administration,” Malaya read from a prepared note during the press conference.

”When a public officer is placed on holdover status, it means his term has expired or his services terminated but he should continue holding his office until his successor is appointed or chosen and has qualified,” said Malaya, also the head of the DFA’s Office of Legal Affairs, quoting relevant jurisprudence.

”The application of the holdover principle in this situation is warranted to prevent a vacuum in the dispensation of public service, pending the appointment, by the newly-elected President of the concerned ambassadors’ successors, and only for three months, for winding up of their affairs at their country of assignments,” read Malaya. ■