04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly any assumption of office may occur. Moreover, contrary to the ponencia’s assertion, the appointee’s non-acceptance cannot in any way translate to a situation where the position will be considered occupied and nobody else may be appointed to it. As already discussed, before the appointee’s acceptance of his appointment, the power of appointment still subsists and is within the President’s control. Hence, the appointee’s non-acceptance cannot hold the President hostage and prevent him from exercising his power to appoint someone else who is also eligible and qualified for the position. In addition, such cumbersome interpretation would undermine the broad appointing power of the President and place it at the mercy of bureaucratic processes. It would practically reduce the President and the OES to a virtual housekeeper several months before the appointment ban, to monitor the acceptance of appointments and prevent any prejudice to public service. i. Section 15 cannot be limited to the mechanical act of “making” the appointment We cannot also distinguish, as the petitioners did,[144] between the mechanical acts of making an appointment paper, on one hand, and its issuance or release, on the other hand, without ignoring the basic principle of a single Executive. The issuance of an appointment paper and the release of the transmittal letter, if any, necessarily form part of the exercise of the appointing power. Without the issuance that subsequently follows the signing of the appointment papers, it cannot seriously be asserted that the President had indeed completely exercised his appointing authority. This conclusion remains valid even if the act of issuance is not personally accomplished by the President since the President, by necessity, must act through agents and cannot likewise be allowed to circumvent the prohibition against him by allowing officials under his control to do what he himself cannot do directly.[145] Even Rule IV of the 1998 Revised Omnibus Rules on Appointment and Other Personnel Actions, which petitioners Venturanza, Villanueva and Rosquita ironically cited, provides that “an appointment issued in accordance with pertinent laws and rules shall take effect immediately, upon its issuance by the appointing authority.” The term “laws” mentioned in the Rule necessarily includes the Constitution as the fundamental law. Thus, immediately after issuance, the appointee can already manifest his acceptance by qualifying for the position and assuming office; before them, it is the President who has the full and complete control, and loses this control only upon the appointee’s acceptance. i. a. The role of the MRO In accomplishing this second stage of the appointment process, the appointment paper and transmittal letter, if any, may be coursed through the MRO. Prudence suggests this course of action not only for the appointee’s convenience but for record-keeping purposes. The undisputed testimony of Director Dimaandal of the MRO on this score is as follows: Q: What is the effect if a document is released by an office or department within Malacañan without going through the MRO? elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/60717 55/75