DIRECTING THE SPEEDY RESOLUTION OF APPEALED CASES IN THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT AND AUTHORIZING ADDITIONAL OFFICIALS TO SIGN “BY AUTHORITY OF THE PRESIDENT” FOR THIS PURPOSE

WHEREAS,
over the years, there has accumulated a significant backlog of cases
appealed to the Office of the President from various departments,
agencies or offices;

WHEREAS,
the backlog of cases has already been gradually reduced under this
Administration, but every effort should be exerted to bring down the
inventory of appealed cases to a manageable minimum;

WHEREAS,
in order to achieve this, it is necessary to designate senior
officials, for a defined temporary period, to focus on the resolution of
such appealed cases and to authorize them to sign resolutions and
decisions related thereto;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested upon me by law, do hereby order as follows:

1.         The
following senior officials of the Office of the President are hereby
directed to focus on the review and resolution of decisions,
resolutions, orders or actions of departments, agencies, and offices
elevated to the Office of the President for review and final
administrative resolution:

a.         Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs Jose T. Tale

b.         Deputy Executive Secretary Arthur P. Autea

The Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs shall be the administrative coordinator of the team.

2.         The
foregoing are hereby directed to complete the review and disposition of
the current inventory of all appealed decisions, resolutions, orders or
actions of departments, agencies and offices pending before the Office
of the President within a period ending December 31, 2002.

3.         For this purpose, Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs Jose T. Tale and Deputy Executive Secretary Arthur P. Autea shall have the authority to sign “By Authority of the President” decisions, resolutions and orders:

a.         affirming in toto the decisions, resolutions, or orders of the departments, agencies or offices,

b.         dismissing appeals filed out of time

c.         dismissing appeals on matters over which the Office of the President has no jurisdiction, and

d.         declaring a decision, resolution or order in an appealed case as final and executory and/or remanding the records of the case to the relevant office

The foregoing authority shall be for a period ending December 31, 2002.

4.         However,
recommended decisions for the reversal or modification of decisions,
resolutions, orders or actions of departments, agencies or offices,
shall be immediately forwarded to the Executive Secretary for
disposition.  The Executive Secretary may delegate the disposition of these matters to the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel.

5.         The
officials named in Section 1 hereof shall also review recommendations
for pardon, parole, commutation of sentence, reprieve and other acts of
executive clemency.

6.         The
Executive Secretary shall issue guidelines and take such measures to
effectively carry out this delegation of authority and ensure an orderly
distribution and disposition of cases.

7.         The
foregoing delegation of authority shall not preclude the Executive
Secretary from exercising his powers and functions pursuant to the
provisions of Sections 25, 26, and 27, Title III, Book IV of the
Administrative Code of 1987.

8.         All previous issuances and/or provisions thereof inconsistent herewith are hereby superseded and/or modified accordingly.

Adopted: 18 March 2002.

By the President:

(SGD.) ALBERTO G. ROMULO
Executive Secretary