Friday, October 17, 2008 Panlilio fails to appeal Guarin's case
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – A former Provincial Legal Officer on Thursday disputed Capitol's claim that the governor had instructed the Provincial Legal Office not to appeal the decision of a local court in the case she filed.
"For the record, Governor Panlilio did not decide to settle the matter by not appealing the mandamus case which was decided in Guarin's favor. His lawyers, presumably led by Provincial Administrator Vivian Dabu, filed a Motion for Reconsideration against the decision," the two said in the statement.
The statement said the decision of the RTC Branch 44 recognizing that it's the ministerial duty of Panlilio to give Guarin her terminal leave pay became final on September 20, 2008.
"The Motion for Reconsideration was only filed on September 22, 2008 at 4:45 p.m., that is, just before the closing of the offices of the court. This led the Presiding Judge of the RTC Branch 44 to issue an order stating that she is unable to act on the Motion for Reconsideration filed, the decision having become final and executory. Given this
backdrop, any attempt of Panlilio to appeal the case is sure to be met with one fate -- an outright denial," it said.
According to Guarin, she had won the case "on the merits" as she was able to show that entries in a logbook were not requirements of the law nor by any of the constitutional commission rules and regulations to be entitled to terminal leave pay.
Panlilio, she said, was not able to refute this claim and, therefore, her entries in her Daily Time Records should be sufficient basis for the Capitol to act on her request.
"There is nothing 'humane' about withholding a former employee's terminal leave pay. For the incumbent governor to even use that word in relation to his attitude towards my case assaults all my senses," Guarin said.
The court has granted the prayer of Guarin for the payment of her terminal pay in the amount of P69,987 but rejected her claim for damages.
The case was filed on October 26, 2007 after the Provincial Government turned down the request of Guarin for the payment of her terminal leave.
This, after it was found out that she did not log her time-in and time-out in the logbook contrary to the Memorandum issued on August 19, 2004 by former Provincial Administrator Fidel Arcenas.
The entries in the logbook are transferred in the employees' Daily Time Record, which is the basis for the payment of their salaries and the computation of her leave credits.
Last Tuesday, the Capitol issued a press release stating that though it has "several meritorious grounds to cause the review of the said judgment, the Provincial Government has decided to settle the matter with finality by not filing an appeal anymore to save on time, money and effort which may be utilized to serve its constituents better."
The Capitol press release stated that Panlilio had "deemed it more humane to acknowledge the services rendered by Guarin to the province, rather than engaging in a relentless pursuit to prove the merit of his stand on the issues involved."
