Filtered By: Topstories
News

Ombudsman to file raps vs Negros local exec over labor tiff


The Visayas regional office of the Ombudsman has ordered the filing of charges against a vice mayor in Negros Occidental for unlawfully firing eleven city employees. The Ombudsman ordered that 11 counts of violation of Republic Act 6656, or The Security of Tenure Act, be filed before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court against Santiago Barcelona Jr., vice mayor of Escalante City. In a statement released on Saturday, the regional Ombudsman said the case stemmed from a complaint lodged by Emerson Bermejo and 10 other government employees, who were terminated while Barcelona was still mayor. The 11 employees had appealed their termination before the Civil Service Commission, arguing that under RA 6656, "[n]o officer or employee in the career service shall be removed except for a valid cause and after due notice and hearing." Based on the Ombudsman order, the complainants will be re-appointed and paid their back salaries. In his defense, Barcelona washed his hands off the termination issue and said it was the Personnel Selection Board that terminated the 11 employees. The Escalante vice mayor added that the complainants were terminated because they were found to be not qualified for the new, vacant positions they were availing of after the local government underwent re-organization. However, the Ombudsman-Visayas ruled that “Barcelona did not present evidence showing how the Personnel Selection Board and the Placement Committee came up with their decision finding the complainants not qualified to any of the position declared vacant." The Ombudsman also ruled that the complainants were not given prior notice of their termination and not given a chance to present their side. Code of conduct, ethical standards Aside from Barcelona, the Ombudsman has also ordered the filing of separate charges against Ricardo Barrios Jr., a labor arbiter of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) regional office in Cebu City. The Ombudsman said Barrios violated Section 7(d) of RA 6713 of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, which bans public officials and employees from asking or receiving “anything of monetary value from any person" while performing their duties. The complainant, Armando Alforque, is a legal counsel who was handling a separate labor case against Barrios. In his complaint, Alforque alleged that Barrios called him by phone and asked, on behalf of the lawyer of the losing party, to reduce the backwages and separation pay of the complaining employees, just to settle the labor dispute. "The respondent went beyond his duties as a labor arbiter, as exhibited by his act of calling complainant Alforque via cellular phone just to relay the message of [the defense] that the latter’s client would want to settle the case in the amount of P250,000," the Ombudsman-Visayas said in a resolution. The regional Ombudsman said that Barrios' attempt at "soliciting money from the parties" was a violation of the law "prohibit[ing] public officials and employees to solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of monetary value from any person in the course of their official duties."—Mark D. Merueñas/JV, GMANews.TV

LOADING CONTENT