Section 10Sec./Art. 10

Section 17 of Republic Act No. 9490 is hereby amended to read as follows:

"Section 17. Organization and Personnel. - The Board of Directors of the APECO shall be entitled to organize its own personnel who will assist the Board in the exercise of its functions and shall likewise provide for an organization of the APECO officers and employees. Upon recommendation of the President and CEO, the Board shall appoint and fix the remunerations and other emoluments of its officers and employees in accordance with existing laws on compensation and position classification: Provided, That the Board shall have exclusive and final authority to promote, transfer, assign or reassign officers of the APECO, any provision of existing law to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided, further, That the President and CEO may carry out removal of such officers and employees.

"All positions in the APECO shall be governed by a compensation, position classification system and qualification standards approved by the Chairman with the concurrence of the Board of Directors based on a comprehensive job analysis and audit of actual duties and responsibilities. The compensation plan shall be comparable with the prevailing compensation plans in the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), the Clark Development Corporation (CDC), the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the private sector and shall be subject to the periodic review by the Board no more than once every two (2) years without prejudice to yearly merit reviews or increases based on productivity and profitability.

The APECO shall therefore be exempt from existing laws, rules and regulations on compensation, position classification and qualification standards. It shall, however, endeavor to make its systems conform as closely as possible with the principles under Republic Act No. 6758.

"The officers and employees of the APECO, including its appointive members of the Board, shall not engage directly or indirectly in partisan activities nor take part in any election, except to vote.

"No officer or employee of the APECO, subject to civil service laws and regulations, shall be removed or suspended except for cause, as provided by law."