The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a measure that would prevent local chief executives from making appointments two months before the May 10, 2010 polls and the succeeding elections.

The measure, as embodied in House Bill 333, covers provincial governors and city and municipal mayors. It aims to curtail the abuse by local chief executives of their appointing power for partisan consideration and electioneering purposes, said the bill’s principal author, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman.

“It is also imperative to prohibit outgoing local executives, whose terms have expired or have lost in their reelection bids or ran for another position, from making appointments pending the assumption to office of their respective successors,” Lagman said in his explanatory note to the bill.

Lagman, one of the legal luminaries in the House of Representatives, said the proposed legislation seeks to plug the loophole in the law that gives governors and mayors the power of appointment which, according to him, “has been abused with impunity in the past for purely partisan reasons at the expense of public service.”

The Bicolano solon noted that under the Constitution, only the President is prohibited from making appointments two months before the next elections and pending assumption to office of his or her successor. The Charter, however, provides exemption to temporary appointments to executive position when continued vacancies would prejudice public service and endanger public safety.

“The constitutional restriction on the appointing power pertains only to the President and it does not extend to local executives like municipal and city mayors and provincial governors,” Lagman pointed out.

Aside from Lagman, other proponents of HB 333 include Reps. George Arnaiz of Negros Oriental, Mauricio Domogan of Baguio City, Carmen Cari of Leyte, Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Cavite, Isidro Ungab  of Davao City and Eduardo Zialcita of Parañaque City.