Suspension of another Quezon mayor ordered
LUCENA CITY—The Office of the Ombudsman has recommended the suspension of Mayor Joselito Alega of San Francisco town in Quezon province for nine months without pay for alleged refusal to reinstate a former local government employee despite repeated orders by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).
The Ombudsman directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government to immediately implement the decision signed by Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer 1 Amethyst Dulig and approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales on Oct. 6.
Separate complaints
The ruling was based on separate administrative complaints filed against Alega in 2011 and 2014 by Noel Castillejo, then head of the municipal social welfare and development office.
Castillejo thanked the Ombudsman for its favorable decision, a copy of which he received from the San Francisco post office only on Nov. 19.
The Inquirer repeatedly tried to contact Alega through his two mobile phone numbers but to no avail.
Alega was the second Quezon town mayor penalized by the Ombudsman. Last month, the antigraft body ordered the dismissal of Atimonan Mayor Jose Mendoza over his refusal to reinstate a dismissed municipal employee, again despite repeated orders by the CSC.
Alega fired Castillejo in 2011 for alleged grave misconduct, dishonesty, falsification of public documents and conduct grossly prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
Reinstatement
On appeal, the CSC found Castillejo liable only for conduct grossly prejudicial to the best interest of the service and meted him a nine-month suspension. The Court of Appeals subsequently lengthened the suspension to one year.
After Castillejo served the suspension period, Alega still refused to reinstate him despite several orders from the CSC.
In one of its decisions, the CSC scoffed as “baseless” Alega’s argument that the CSC writ of execution was “void since the decision did not order reinstatement.”
“By modifying the penalty from dismissal from service to suspension, it is common sense that complainant should be able to resume his post as MSWDO (municipal social welfare and development officer) after the period of suspension; a contrary interpretation would lead to the absurdity that the CSC order imposing suspension would have the same effect as one for dismissal,” the Ombudsman said.
The Ombudsman also rebuked Alega for making a “just as futile” argument that the CSC decision was not yet final and hence not subject to execution.
The Ombudsman noted that under Section 120 of the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service, a pending petition for review or certiorari before the Supreme Court could not stop the implementation of the CSC order, unless there was a restraining order or injunction from the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court. “No such order or injunction was issued by the [Court of Appeals] or the Supreme Court,” it said.
Castillejo said he is a cousin of Alega’s arch-political rival, former town mayor and now incumbent Vice Mayor Hernani Tan. Alega defeated Tan in the mayoral race in 2010.
“From the very start, Mayor Alega’s unjust treatment of me was politically motivated,” Castillejo claimed.
