DUE to the mounting number of petitioners, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, through a memorandum effective Friday, March 5, 2021, reassigned Human Resource and Management Office head laywer Anabelle Palic under the Office of the Governor, Provincial Administrator lawyer Rayfrando Diaz said Friday.

Diaz said Palic will oversee the transition of Cyber Centre after the capitol took over the management effective this month.

Lacson, in the same memorandum, has also assigned Felomina Gozon as Officer-in-charge of the HRMO with a team who will assist her.

Diaz said the reassignment of Palic is to give way to an independent team to look into the allegations of the employees against her.

"The HRMO is a powerful office so we need to protect the employees who signed the petition against her. We don't want somebody to use her authority to get back to the employees who signed the petition against her," Diaz said.

He cited that from 469, the petitioners against Palic climbed to 560 employees and more employees has signified to sign.

"This is a situation which could no longer be ignored by the governor," Diaz said.

He also saod Palic was given the chance to listen and improve her relationship with the employees. She was already subjected to the first petition by the employees led by the Progressive Alliance of Capitol Employees in July 2019, but it was stopped after the union agreed to the appeal of the governor that Palic will be given the chance to join the administration of Lacson, which is pro-employee.

In the previous administration, Palic was also reassigned under the Office of the Governor also due to employees' complaints.

"This will serve as an eye opener for us to always listen to the sentiments of the employees. I even advised Palic to improve and use her mother instinct in dealing with the employees," Diaz said.

Among the various complaints of the Capitol employees against Palic include alleged massive deductions of employees' leave credits at the height of the COovid-19 pandemic especially those who were quarantined; her policy for retirees where she required copies of Individual Performance and Commitment Review for Capitol properties and equipment whose Memorandum Receipts were issued to them in the past 10 years despite that the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in answer to the letter-inquiry of Pace has confirmed that such clearances are not necessary anymore for retiree's retirement claims.

"Several retirees have not received their GSIS retirement benefits yet because HR is not endorsing their papers," said Renelo Lastierre, Pace president.