Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Leonardia ordered to reinstate GSO head
THE Court of Appeals (CA) Special Twentieth Division based in Cebu City has ordered Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia "to restore Jerome Solinap to his former position as City General Services Officer (GSO).
The City Government was also ordered to pay all salaries, allowances and benefits" due him, including those previously withheld.
In a 12-page decision promulgated last July 28 and furnished Sun.Star Bacolod Thursday, Associate Justices Amy Lazaro-Javier, Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla and Franchito Diamante affirmed the earlier ruling of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) that Solinap is rightfully entitled to be immediately restored to his original position and station.
"To give local chief executives an unbridled discretion to transfer or reassign employees of local government units who are covered by civil service laws would be putting these employees at the mercy of unscrupulous, if not vindictive, politicians," the order noted. "It has been a practice of some newly-elected local government officials to discriminate against employees, even those holding career positions, who are known supporters of their losing rival by transferring/reassigning them to other offices or duties, usually more menial or servile, to force them to resign, thereby allowing the local official to fill in the vacancy with his own appointees or protégées. This discriminatory practice should be stopped so as to uphold the security of tenure employed by civil servants who could only be removed for a cause and only after proper proceeding."
Records showed that on July 28, 2004, Leonardia reassigned Solinap to the Office of the City Mayor (OCM) "to personally handle the inventory of all the properties of the Bacolod City Government and submit a report."
A year after or on August 2, 2005, Solinap wrote Leonardia that he was reporting back at the GSO. But instead of being returned to his (original) post, the City Legal officer (CLO) reportedly asked for a copy of Solinap's inventory report and reiterated the former's continued reassignment at the OCM. Leonardia also confirmed the CLO's opinion and stressed Solinap's reassignment beyond one year.
On August 18, 2005, Solinap submitted to the OCM his compliance with the inventory required of him. Leonardia's secretary, however, allegedly rejected the report as he found it "invalid and incomplete."
The CLO eventually advised Solinap to bring the matter to CSC, which, on February 6, 2006, invalidated Solinap's reassignment and ordered Leonardia to allow Solinap to report back to GSO. The CSC also denied Leonardia's motion for reconsideration, saying that Solinap's continued reassignment violates civil service rules and regulations.(CGC)
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