HON. RICARDO L. SALUDO

The Civil Service Commission has a new Chairman. Honorable Ricardo L. Saludo took his oath of office before Vice-President Noli De Castro at the CSC Function Hall on July 25, 2008. Among others, former Chairpersons of the Commission namely: Chairperson Patricia A. Sto. Tomas and Justice Jose A. R. Melo together with incumbent Commissioners Mary Ann Fernandez Z. Mendoza and Cesar D. Buenaflor, who turned-over CSC's leadership to the former, witnessed the ceremony at the stage. Director IV Ariel G. Ronquillo of the Office for Legal Affairs was the master of ceremonies.

Secretary Saludo graduated cum laude and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature from the Ateneo De Manila University. In the year 2001, he was honored as outstanding alumnus from the Asian Institute of Journalism. He completed courses for the Master of Public Policy and Management from the University of London. Before working with the government, Secretary Saludo was the Senior Business Editor for Asiaweek Magazine from 1989 to 1995. In 1995, he became an Asia affairs commentator for CNN and CNBC, working in both networks until 2001. In addition to this, he also was the Assistant Managing Editor of Asiaweek from 1996 up to 2001.

In the year 2003, he became the Deputy Presidential Spokesperson. The next year, he was Acting Head of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) until November 2004. Presently, he is the Cabinet Secretary and has been serving this position since January 2002.

A Techie, Chairman Saludo believes that information technology can play a vital role to influence government workers to emulate exemplary services displayed by others. He vowed to promote transparency in government service and to continue the programs of his predecssors to uplift public service and to speedily address the demands of the public through modern technology, such a "Text CSC", where the public may text their complaints directly to the Commission. The Office for the Legal Affairs of the Commission under the tutelage of Commissioners Cesar D. Buenaflor and Mary Fernandez Z. Mendoza, was cited by the Chairman for its speedy resolution of administrative cases pending before the Commission. During the ceremony, Chairman Saludo and Vice-President Noli De Castro contributed P 100,000.00 each as an initial amount to establish a welfare fund for the benefit of civilian officials and employees in case of death in line of duty. Chairman Saludo's vision for the Philippine Civil Service were much welcomed by media practitioners and freedom loving Filipinos as Chairman Saludo himself was once a mediaman as CNN and CNBC commentator and as Editor of Asiaweek.

(Inset pictures: Commissioner Cesar D. Buenaflor, Acting Chairman, turning over the CSC Flag to Chairman Ricardo L. Saludo; Dir. Ariel G. Ronquillo with Chairman Saludo)

THE CSC RETIREES' ASSOCIATION INC.

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Men do not light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket. They set it on a stand where it gives light to all. In the same way your light must shine before men so that they may see the goodness in your acts and give praise to your heavenly Father." This is one of the favorite verses in St. Matthew of Bro. Fil Fernandez. After almost fifteen years since we have been together in a project, a short stint of organizing the youth in Paltok, San Francisco Del Monte, (where Bro. Fil Fernandez was the past President of the Parish Pastoral Council) to stay away from drugs and other vices, we have crossed path once again.

Bro. Fil Fernandez, former Commissioner of the Civil Service Commission, together with Sister Ligaya Jorge, former Assistant Secretary of the DPWH and the Aunt of Eng. Aber Canlas, who was then a consultant of Secretary Salvador H. Escudero III at the Department of Agriculture (may the soul of Eng. Canlas rest in peace), during the Ramos Administration, would like to invite CSC retirees to join them: to write or contribute something about their personal recollections of the events which transpired while working at the CSC. There were some events in the past unknown to the public, which they have personal knowledge, such as, why was it that the Office for Legal Affairs was specifically mentioned in the law creating the Commission? How about the other Offices in the Commission?

Dir. Hilda G. Diokno, of the Integrated Records Management Office of the Commission invited among others, Bro. Fil Fernandez and Sister Ligaya Jorge, to a project for the retirees to write and give their personal account of CSC's history. Bro. Fil and Sister Ligaya, now 76 and 90 years old, respectively, with other retirees - voluntarily offered their services without hesitation. This is very interesting as we shall learn from those who have first hand information of past events as to what actually transpired during the crafting of laws and the formulation of policies affecting our Civil Service .

We would like to thank DIR. ARIEL G. RONQUILLO of the Office for Legal Affairs for his unwavering support in promoting the advocacy of Bro. Fil Fernandez and Sister Ligaya Jorge in this simple presentation for the CSC retirees worldwide to be informed, among others, of Bro. Fil and Sister Ligaya's advocacy. Actually, Bro. Fil Fernandez shall be leaving for the United States and might be staying there for about two months, but he will be back.

In honor of their advocacy we would like to present in person: Commissioner Fil Fernandez and Asec. Ligaya Jorge together with the CSC retirees in this Audio-Visual Presentation. The background music "Kay Gandang Isipin", was a contribution from Emil Gapit, a local talent, in honor of the CSC retirees:


(The softwares used to edit above materials are duly licensed Ulead, Adobe Photoshop and MS softwares. Above presentation was produced solely for the benefit of the CSC retirees by - "ALIMUKON": In Quest of Advocacies).