MANILA - Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual on Thursday said he has asked the head of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to answer the complaints lodged against him by the employees of the agency.

Pascual was recently grilled by lawmakers during his hearing with the Commission on Appointments (CA) over PEZA Director General Tereso Panga's termination of several employees.

Panga allegedly terminated several contractual employees, put permanent employees under floating status, and demoted several long time employees of the agency which was against civil service rules.

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Pascual, who serves as chairman of the PEZA board, said he was not aware of the pending complaint of four PEZA employees against the PEZA Management until the night before his CA hearing.

"The Board Chair is not directly involved in PEZA’s day-to-day operations, such as human resource management," Pascual said in a statement.

The DTIO chief said he has ordered "Panga to submit a written explanation on the complaint by PEZA employees."

"Further, the Secretary will conduct an inquiry into the complaint."

The CA suspended its hearing on Pascual's ad interim appointment on Tuesday after the body ran out of time to examine his qualifications for the post.

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