CA overturns dismissal of Leonardia, 8 others

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The Court of Appeals 18th Division had overturned the decision of Office of the Ombudsman ordering the dismissal of Mayor Evelio Leonardia and eight other Bacolod City employees, for grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty.

Leonardia and eight other Bacolod City employees were indicted earlier by the Office of the Ombudsman in the alleged irregular acquisition of P50 million worth of furniture and fixture for the Bacolod City Government Center in 2008.

The Ombudsman had ordered the filing of criminal charges of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act (RA) 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act against Leonardia, former Bids and Awards chairman Goldwyn Nifras, former Budget Officer Luzviminda Treyes, the late city legal officer Allan Zamora, BAC member Nelson Sedillo Sr., BAC Secretariat head Melvin Recabar, former city treasurer Annabelle Badajos, and former members of the Technical Working Group namely, Gliceria Caduhada, Eduardo Ravena, Jaries Encabo, Belly Aguillon, and Aladino Agbones.

This prompted Leonardia and his co-respondents to file petitions at the CA for review of the Ombudsman decision.

In a decision released on September 6, copies of which were distributed to the media on Tuesday, the CA ruled to completely reverse the December 2, 2016 resolution of the Ombudsman, ordering the dismissal of Leonardia and eight others.

The CA decision stated that Leonardia and other respondents did not violate RA 9184 (Government Procurement Reform Act) because they did not benefit from the transaction.

Leonardia said he feels vindicated by the decision of the CA. Aside from Leonardia, the CA also cleared Nifras, Treyes, Sedillo, Aguillon, Agbones and Ebenizer.

"There was no overprice, no under-delivery because all goods were all accounted for, there was no conspiracy, and there was no bad faith," Leonardia said.

However, Recabar and Ravena were found guilty of simple misconduct only, and not of grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty. As such, their penalty was amended from dismissal to suspension for three months without pay.

After serving the three-month suspension, they will also be reinstated back to their positions and entitled to back wages and other benefits commencing from the time they have served the three-month suspension up to the time of their actual reinstatement.

The CA decision, as promulgated, was signed by Associate Justices Germano Francisco Legaspi and Marilyn Lagura-Yap, and Executive Justice Gabriel Ingles. "Evidently, there is no showing that the acts, which purportedly transgressed the IRR of R.A. No. 9184, were tainted with corruption or that petitioners benefitted from them," it declared. (FREEMAN)