Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron (Photo from the Facebook page of Mr. Bayron)
The dismissal from service of Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron could not be implemented yet, the Court of Appeals (CA) said in a decision made public Friday.
Bayron was dismissed from service by the Office of the Ombudsman last November for nepotism-related charges.
The appeals court’s 8th Division said the mayor’s petition with the appeals court is considered “premature” because his motion for reconsideration with the Ombudsman has yet to be resolved.
Bayron urged the CA to issue a temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injunction citing an implementing endorsement of Assistant Ombudsman Jennifer Jardin-Manalili to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for implementation of the dismissal order.
“In actual fact, the dismissal is not immediately executory,” the CA’s four-page resolution written by Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao stated.
“For one thing, the assailed decision is devoid of any directive to the effect that the order of dismissal is immediately executory… there is no convincing or telling proof that the Ombudsman directed or requested the DILG to implement the dismissal order.”
On November 18, 2016, the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal from the service of Bayron and his son Karl over charges of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the best of interest of the service based on the complaint filed by one Aldrin Madreo of Antipolo City in 2013.
The Ombudsman said Bayron and Karl intentionally concealed their father-son relationship—in violation of Civil Service rules on appointments—when the mayor appointed his son as project manager of Bantay Puerto Princesa VIP Security Task Force from July 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013.
In filing a motion for reconsideration on February 1, Bayron claimed that it was unthinkable for him to try to get away with concealing fatherly ties with his son as he pointed out that Karl’s appointment is a non-plantilla and non-career position in the city government and that disclosure of their filial relationship in the work contract is “immaterial.”
The mayor added his son’s position is “highly confidential in nature,” which is exempt from the rule on nepotism.
He added that Karl’s Personal Data Sheet (PDS) was attached to the signed Certificate of Service (CoS). It was in this PDS that Karl indicated his relationship with the incumbent mayor.
“It is thus against the grain of human experience to surmise that the intention then of respondent Lucilo was to ‘conceal’ his relationship with respondent Karl in the CoS,” the 15-page motion for reconsideration filed by Bayron’s legal counsel Teddy Rigoroso pointed out.
The penalty of dismissal for the alleged concealment of their filial relationship, Bayron said, “is too harsh and is not commensurate to the alleged infraction.”
“It will also result in the disenfranchisement of the 56,874 voters of Puerto Princesa who overwhelmingly reelected respondent Lucilo during the May 2016 National and Local Elections,” the motion stated. RAM