Sultan Kudarat mayor indicted for refusing to rehire employee

The Office of the Ombudsman has approved the indictment for graft of Mayor Diosdado Pallasigue of Isulan town, Sultan Kudarat province, in the Sandiganbayan for allegedly defying an order of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) reinstating a sacked municipal official.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said Pallasigue violated Republic Act No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, after he refused to rehire former municipal planning and development coordinator Elias Segura Jr.

“Pallasigue acted with manifest partiality and evident bad faith in refusing to implement lawful orders from competent authorities without justifiable cause,” Morales said.

“(He) refused to act or implement the directives from competent authorities for a considerable period of time, for the obvious purpose of discriminating against (the) complainant,” she added.

Morales said the CSC granted Segura’s petition for reinstatement in March 2014 “thus the respondent had no recourse but to implement the same.”

According to the Ombudsman, Pallasigue abolished the Municipal Economic Enterprise Development Office in 2007, which Segura headed, and transferred him to the Municipal Integrated Public Terminal unit under the Office of the Mayor.

It said Segura’s new office had “no chairs, tables, office supplies, equipment or personnel” and was located some 1.5 kilometers away from the municipal hall.

The mayor also refused to release Segura’s representation and transportation allowance in March 2008 before he was eventually axed as a municipal employee.

The Ombudsman said Segura then brought his case to the CSC, which granted his petition for reinstatement six years later.