MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) directed Rehabilitation Secretary Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday, February 11, to comment on a plea to scrap his position that President Benigno Aquino III created to respond to Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).

The SC said Lacson should file his comment 10 days after receiving this order.

However, the high court denied the petitioner’s request for it to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Lacson’s appointment as presidential assistant for rehabilitation and recovery while the case is pending.

Lacson told Rappler he “will leave it to the government lawyers to comment on the position.”

Filed by Louis Biraogo, the petition “challenges the constitutionality” of Memorandum Order No. 62, which Aquino issued on Dec 6, 2013.

Biraogo said MO 62 “violates” Republic Act 10121, which created the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) “for the purpose of carrying out post-disaster rehabilitation programs of the government,” according to the SC. (READ: NDRRMC: Too many cooks spoil the broth)

For him, this means “there is no need for the new office created by the President, which respondent Lacson currently occupies.”

Biraogo, as quoted by the SC, also said issuing MO 62 “effectively amends or modifies RA 10121 and thus is a usurpation” of the legislative power of Congress.

He reportedly said RA 10121 designates Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin as NDRRMC chair. He said MO 62, then, cannot confer on Lacson “the authority conferred by law on the secretary of defense.”

‘I won’t cling to the post’

Lacson, for his part, said he “had no hand in the drafting” of MO 62 in the first place.

“Secondly,” he added, “without exaggeration, this job is a big personal sacrifice on my part.”

“While I have committed myself to perform my task the best way I can given all the constraints and limitations I have, I will not also cling to it. Simply said, I will gladly abide by the SC ruling on the petition,” Lacson said.

Lacson’s rival, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, earlier belittled his position. “A presidential assistant is nothing but a gofer of the President: You go there, you come here,” she said. (READ: Miriam: Lacson shelter claims anomalous)

In July 2013, Santiago also criticized Lacson after he proposed an “unconstitutional” position – as anti-corruption czar.

She denounced the position as “unconstitutional, illegal, immoral, and egotistic.” She said only Congress, not the President, can create a public office.

“It is a basic principle of the tripartite system of democracy that the creation of a public office is primarily a legislative function. He should go to Congress and lobby for this self-serving, self-aggrandizing personal pet project of his,” Santiago said.

In 2013, she cited the case filed by Biraogo, too, before the SC. In Biraogo’s case against the Philippine Truth Commission, the high court said the Administrative Code prohibits the President from creating an office in the guise of reorganization.

The SC declared the Truth Commission unconstitutional.

Lacson’s position, in any case, isn’t as powerful as it sounds. In reality, he said, his appointment has no “legal weight.” He also said he has no power over the budget. (Watch Rappler’s video report below)

He said his weak powers “exacerbate” the job of rebuilding nearly 16 million lives after Yolanda. – Rappler.com