Appeals court affirms firing of CHR exec

The Court of Appeals has affirmed its earlier ruling upholding the Office of the Ombudsman’s decision to dismiss from the service a member of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for grave misconduct and violation of the code of conduct and ethical standards for public servants.

In a resolution dated March 22, the appellate court’s former Special 6th Division denied the motion for reconsideration filed by former CHR Commissioner Coco Quisumbing, saying the tribunal found no new arguments to warrant the reversal of its August 2015 decision.

“There being no convincing or impelling reason for us to reconsider, alter, modify, much less set aside our previous legal stand, we deny the motion for reconsideration,” the court said in the resolution written by Justice Jane Aurora Lantion.

The other division members, Justices Fernanda Lampas Peralta and Carmelita Salandanan Manahan, concurred.

Quisumbing, a former newsreader for RPN Channel 9 and the daughter of retired Supreme Court Justice Leonardo Quisumbing and the late CHR Chair Purificacion Quisumbing, was appointed commissioner in 2008.

The case against her arose from a complaint filed with the Ombudsman in September 2013 by Ma. Regina Eugenio, a member of Quisumbing’s staff.

Eugenio alleged that the commissioner hired her in 2008 as an administrative aide that during her more than four years of employment, she and her officemates were always mistreated, shouted at and humiliated by Quisumbing.

 Ghost employees

She alleged that Quisumbing would always get very angry at them for no reason, and then suddenly change her mood as if nothing had happened.

In her complaint, Eugenio claimed that Quisumbing even made a script to serve as a guide for the office staff on how to answer questions from her. She said Quisumbing also maintained several ghost employees.

Eugenio also claimed that she was promoted by Quisumbing with the condition that her salary increase differential would be given to the latter.

In July 2013, Eugenio resigned from her job, saying she could no longer bear the alleged maltreatment and oppression by Quisumbing. She eventually filed a complaint with the Ombudsman, which ordered Quisumbing’s preventive suspension and eventual dismissal from the service in September the same year.