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Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Neda officer faces abuse case
By Karlon N. Raman
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
The anti-graft office has ordered the filing of a sexual harassment case against National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Director Romeo Escandor, after it found probable cause in the 2004 complaint filed by a subordinate.
Deputy Ombudsman Primo Miro approved the recommendation of Graft Investigator Jane Aguilar, who found evidence supporting allegations of “a pattern of continuing sexual abuse and harassment” committed by Escandor against Ruth Paul-Cruz for almost 10 years.
The case will be filed before the Sandiganbayan.
The acts of harassment, the anti-graft office said, took the form of “repeated sexual innuendos, repeated sexual propositions, sending emails and pictures that are sexual in nature in the workplace, persistent unwanted sexual overtures and unwelcome touching or stroking of the hands.”
Behavior
“Any behavior that is repeated, unwanted, interferes with and has a negative effect on one’s work is considered sexual harassment. It covers a wide range of behaviors from obvious acts such as fondling to subtle ones such as making suggestive remarks,” according to the anti-graft office.
“The bottom line for the harassment factor is that the sexual advances of the harasser, regardless of his or her intentions, is unwelcome to the recipient,” it said.
Another sexual harassment case is still pending against Escandor. This also involves a Neda employee.
In her complaint, Cruz narrated how the incidents of harassment began in 1994, at the old Neda building on Escario St. She and Escandor were having a meeting at the latter’s office when Escandor allegedly told her that he was in love with her.
She said she found the situation “morally unimaginable since respondent was not only her superior but also the husband of a person she considered as her mentor,” referring to Madeline Escandor.
The days following the first incident were “extremely stressful.” Cruz said she had to narrate the incident to a co-employee, Remedios Mondigo, to let up her anxiety.
The incident, which she called “intermittent emotional bombshells,” was repeated several times.
In one occasion in 1997, Escandor made her join a meeting of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board at a local restaurant and made her sit beside him, Cruz said. From under the table, Escandor allegedly slipped his hand over hers, forcing her to yank it away.
This, she said, was repeated in a meeting with people from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.
Incidents
She also spoke of an incident inside Escandor’s office, where he allegedly grabbed and forcibly kissed her.
Other than actual physical contact, she said Escandor also sent her messages over the Internet, asking her to meet him someplace. He would also call her up by phone and narrate how he wanted to make love to her. One such call, which happened sometime in 1999, was placed in her own residence.
Escandor, in his counter-affidavit, denied the allegations and said he is merely being harassed by his own subordinates who, at the time of the filing of the sexual harassment complaint, filed eight other “baseless” charges to oust him from Neda.
In countering Cruz’s charges, he said this was merely to get back at him for his strict management style.
“Complainant is a stubborn, hard-headed and self-righteous staff and she feels superior to the respondent in view of her having a master’s degree in economics from UP. Complainant is also banking on her connections at Neda central office… the conflict between the respondent and the complainant is caused by the latter’s refusal to subordinate herself to the former,” he said.
The alleged immoral acts are “not true and pure imagination of the complainant” and that the witnesses who have stepped up against him are tainted, Escandor said.
In resolving to file the complaint before the Sandiganbayan, Aguilar said Escandor’s denial is “self-serving” and is a matter of defense that “should be put to test in trial before the court.”
“It is highly inconceivable for complainant to fabricate the charge and subject herself to public trial and tarnish her family’s honor and reputation for the purpose of retaliating to the strict management style of respondent, as what he would want this office to believe,” Aguilar said of the complainant.
(July 5, 2005 issue)
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