Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and other Cabinet members who are seeking elective posts this May and who have submitted their courtesy resignations would apparently stay in their posts for a while.

Deputy Presidential Spokeswoman Charito Planas on Friday said President Arroyo is likely to announce their replacements only after the Supreme Court’s decision that appointed government officials joining the May polls are considered resigned becomes final and executory.

This as the Commission on Elections said party list nominees who are appointive officials are also considered resigned once they accept their nomination.

The Supreme Court earlier ruled that all appointive officials running for public office are deemed resigned upon the filing of their certificates of candidacy last December, triggering a wave of resignations by affected officials led by Ermita.

Ermita, a congressional candidate in the first district of Batangas, recently said it was up to the President whether or not she would immediately accept their resignations.

Planas, in a Palace news conference, said the President would likely wait for the High Court ruling to become final before acting on the cabinet resignations.

Solicitor General Alberto Agra would reportedly file a motion for reconsideration of the ruling.

“As of now, the Supreme Court decision is not yet executor; in the sense both parties have a right to file a motion for reconsideration within 15 days,” the former Quezon City vice mayor said. “Everybody is free to exercise one’s right.”

“If no one will file a motion for reconsideration within 15 days, then a writ of execution would have to be filed with the Supreme Court,” said Planas, a lawyer by profession.

Planas said the President has people in mind to fill the imminent vacancies in the cabinet, adding that the Chief Executive would not allow any interruption of government operations.

The President may reshuffle some cabinet secretaries or appoint undersecretaries to replace officials running for public office, she said.

‘Whether they like it or not, they will have to relinquish their positions,” she said, referring to Ermita and other cabinet members affected by the Supreme Court decision.

Apart from Ermita, Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., Presidential Management Staff chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Director General Augusto Syjuco Jr. have filed courtesy resignations. They are all running for congressional positions in their respective provinces.

Presidential Adviser on External Affairs Edgardo Pamintuan also reportedly submitted his resignation letter Friday morning to the President.

Pamintuan is running for mayor in Angeles City.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Raul Gonzalez and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap are also apparently waiting for the finality of the SC ruling before quitting.

The Comelec meanwhile said it issued Resolution 8697 last November 11 providing that nominees of political party organizations are considered resigned from their appointive positions upon acceptance of their nomination.

“If they accept the nomination they are deemed resigned today…this refers to appointive officials not elective,” Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said.

Unless they accept the nomination, Larrazabal said, they are not considered nominees of the party list organization and they are not required to resign.

He said the people will know the nominees of the different party list groups because the poll body will make their names public.

“We will publish the list of nominees of all political party organizations because in the ballot it’s only the acronym of the party list organization that is included. So we will be publishing their acronym, the name of the organization and the list of nominees,” said Larrazabal.

The Comelec set the deadline for the submission of the list of nominees of party list groups on March 26, 2010. Each group has to name at least five nominees.

A party-list nominee should be a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, a registered voter, a resident of the Philippines for a period of not less than one year, able to read and write, a bona fide member of the party or organization which he seeks to represent for at least 90 days before election day, and at least 25 years old on the day of the election.