Retiring cop to sue Manila police over unused sick leaves
MANILA, Philippines—Talk about leaving with a bang. Upon his retirement, a Manila policeman is slapping the Manila Police District’s human resources division with a criminal complaint.
A visibly irked Police Chief Investigator Antonio Rivera Macam of the MPD-Station 1 filed a complaint at the General Assignments Section on Wednesday morning, alleging that the district human resources was robbing him of around P200,000 in liquidation of unused sick leaves.
In an interview, Macam said that in his 31 years as a policeman, the MPD had recorded 109 sick leaves, which he never took. Unused sick leaves are supposed to be converted to cash and paid to personnel upon retirement from the service, according to Macam.
“They insist that according to their index cards, I took leaves which I don’t remember taking. They have no evidence to back up their claims: no documents, no special orders, they didn’t even record the specific dates of these supposed leaves,” Macam ranted in Filipino.
He added that the MPD had even recorded leaves on years he was assigned to other police districts.
Macam said he would be filing complaints of falsification of documents by public officials against the chief of the Personnel Transaction Services-District Personnel and Human Resources Development Division (PTS-DPHRDD), and a couple of his staff. “People should know about this scam,” Macam said.
Police Senior Inspector Jose Antonio Yuson, the chief of the PTS-DPHRDD chief, said his office was ready to face Macam’s complaint.
“We only base decisions on the office records, which we just inherited. How can we be liable? He should complain to the past staff of this office, who are most likely already dead,” Yuson said.
The sick leaves Macam is complaining about were recorded from 1983 to 1996.
Yuson added all special orders for sick leaves were forwarded to the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig. He believes the special order for Macam’s complained leaves could be retrieved there.
