Miriam: Zubiri may be penalized if he stops reporting for work

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Thursday said Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri might be penalized if he stops reporting to work without waiting for the Senate to accept his resignation. “The Penal Code prohibits the crime of abandonment of office. It is committed by any public officer who, before the acceptance of his resignation, shall abandon his office to the detriment of the public service," she said in a statement released on Thursday. Santiago said abandonment of office is punishable with a penalty of one to six months’ imprisonment. Zubiri, whose victory in the 2007 midterm elections is being questioned before the Senate Electoral Tribunal, resigned from his post. He said that he will no longer report for work starting Thursday. Courtesy resignation Santiago, however, cited the 1990 case of Joson v. Nario, where the Supreme Court ruled: “Acceptance is necessary for the resignation of a public officer to be operative and effective, otherwise the officer is subject to the penal provisions of Article 238 of the Penal Code." She explained that since because Zubiri resigned from the pressure of what he perceived to be "adverse public opinion," his resignation should be considered merely a "courtesy resignation." “A courtesy resignation is not a resignation in the legal sense," she said. She said in the 1988 case of Ortiz v. Comelec, the Supreme Court ruled that: “A courtesy resignation cannot properly be interpreted as a resignation in the legal sense if it is not necessarily a reflection of a public official’s intention to surrender his position." She also cited the 2001 case of Estrada v. Desierto, where the Supreme Court ruled: “There must be an intent to resign, and an intent must be coupled by acts of relinquishment." Santiago added that if the Senate decides to vote on Zubiri’s resignation, she will vote “no," with the thought that his resignation should be effective only after the SET issues a decision on the electoral protest filed against him by Aquilino Pimentel III. “If Zubiri leaves office, and Pimentel is not yet declared the winner of that office, the position of senator will remain vacant, causing detriment to the public service," she said. Pimentel ranked 13th in the 2007 senatorial elections with 10,987,347 votes. Zubiri scraped through at 12th with 11,005,866 votes. Pimentel questioned Zubiri's win before the SET. Earlier in the day, Sen. Edgardo Angara said the SET may declare Pimentel as the 12th winning senator during the 2007 elections. Angara, however, said that it's not likely that Zubiri will be charged with abandonment of office. Angara said the senators agreed during Wednesday's caucus to take no action on Zubiri's resignation and just forward it to the SET. "No one can be forced to serve if he doesn't like," he told GMA News Online in a phone interview. - VVP, GMA News