FOR grave misconduct, five employees from the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) of Negros Occidental have meted a 60-day preventive suspension.
Provincial Legal Officer Alberto Nellas Jr. said Thursday, August 25, that Engineers Jimbo Garsula, Ramelo Letran, German Abihay and Rezin Palacious as well as Maria Luisa Abano have already received their suspension order on Monday, August 22.
“After 60 days, they are given choice to either submit a position paper or to engage in a full-blown administrative hearing, Nellas said, as he emphasized that Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Lacson has conformed with their findings.
He said the preventive suspension of the OPA employees is not a penalty in itself but rather a mechanism so that the ongoing investigation of the complaint against them would be protected.
Nellas earlier issued a show cause order against the employees after they had a drinking session in Victorias City while on official travel on July 15, 2022.
He said that they made the driver of their service vehicle wait until 8 p.m. while Garsula reportedly bad-mouthed Mario Pequit-pequit, who heads the Provincial Capitol’s cab service.
Nellas said there was indeed a misuse of government property.
For Garzula’s case, he was charged with grave misconduct twice for bad-mouthing Pequit-pequit, the Provincial Legal Officer said.
As of Thursday, the suspended employees are no longer reporting to duty while the security personnel of the Capitol were furnished with a copy of their suspension order.
With their suspension, the five will no longer be qualified for bonuses.
Earlier, they already aired their side to Nellas claiming that they were just invited by their counterparts from Victorias City.
One of them even said that it would be an insult to refuse the "hospitable” invitation.