- Rules and regulations pertaining to procurement of supplies and materials were consciously and continually violated as disclosed in the verification of selected purchases of the Province. Below were the findings and observations:
- Purchases of various items, totaling at least PhP 29.34 million and allegedly procured through public bidding, were found highly irregular for lack of proper bidding procedures and documentation;
- At least PhP 28.165 million worth of purchases through repeat orders were made by the Province without observing the pertinent law, rules and regulations governing this mode of procurement; and
- Emergency purchases of medicines and assorted goods totaling PhP 14.67 million were found not complying with the requirements set forth under the Rules and Regulations on Supplies and Property Management in Local Governments (RRSPMLG). Moreover, the purchases were charged against the calamity fund, despite absence of any declaration from the President that Samar was under a state of calamity, in violation of Sec. 324(d) of R.A. 7160.
- Inconsistencies in the dates of supporting documents relating to the purchases discussed in finding No. 1 were so glaring that they raised doubts on the validity of the transactions per se;
- The use of the 5% budgetary reserves for calamity as funding source of emergency purchases was not legally established, there being no declaration from the Office of the President that Samar was under a state of calamity, as required under Sec. 324(d) of R.A. 7160;
- Splitting of requisitions and purchase orders was resorted to in violation of COA Circular No. 76-41 dated July 30, 1976;
- There was overpricing in the purchase of rice, medicines, electric fans and cement in the amount of PhP 580,000.00, PhP 322,760.00, PhP 341,040.00, and PhP 3.6 million, respectively. An overpayment was also committed in the payments of cement in the amount of PhP 96,364.09;
- Other observations gathered corollary to the purchases made are the following:
- Purchase Orders were not duly accomplished to include a complete description of the items to be purchased, the delivery date and the terms of payment, in violation of the provisions of Section 74 and other corollary provisions of RRSPMLG. Some were even acknowledged by suppliers;
- At least 36 vouchers/claims were not supported with an official receipt, in violation of the provisions of Section 4 of PD 1445 that all disbursements must be supported with complete documentation; and
- Advanced deliveries of medicines and assorted goods were made on some purchases even before the purchase orders were prepared and before the public biddings were conducted.
- The necessity and veracity of the distribution of t-shirts/caps, medicines, assorted goods and cement purchased by the Province of Samar could not be established due to rampant inconsistencies in dates, quantities, as well as the signatures of the alleged recipients in the Requisition and Issue Slip; and,
- Financial Assistance (FA)/Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) totaling at least PhP 5.4 million in 2002 and PhP 2.78 million as of April 2003 were granted to various applicant-recipients without subjecting them to the guidelines set forth by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).4 x x x
VIEWED IN THE FOREGOING LIGHT, DECISION is hereby rendered as follows:
- Respondents ROLANDO B. MONTEJO, DAMIANO Z. CONDE, JR., ROMEO C. REALES, MAXIMO D. SISON, AURELIO A. BARDAJE and NUMERIANO C. LEGASPI are FOUND GUILTY of GRAVE MISCONDUCT, DISHONESTY and CONDUCT PREJUDICIAL TO THE BEST INTEREST OF THE SERVICE, and are METED the penalty of DISMISSAL FROM SERVICE, and shall carry with it the cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits, and the perpetual disqualification for re-employment in the government service.
Accordingly, Governor Milagrosa T. Tan and Executive Director Presentacion R. Montesa of the Bureau of Local Government Finance, Department of Finance, are respectfully directed to implement this Order upon receipt hereof and to forthwith inform the Office of compliance herewith.
- The administrative complaint against respondents MILAGROSA T. TAN, FE ORTEGA TAN ARCALES, SUSANO DIMAKILING SALURIO, BARTOLOME P. FIGUEROA, ANTONIO DE LEON BOLASTIG, III, ROSENAIDA A. ROSALES and BARTOLOME R. CASTILLO III is DISMISSED in view of their re-election in May 2004;
- The administrative complaint against ERNESTO CARCILLAR ARCALES, FELIX T. BABALCON, JR., JIMMY R. DY, JUAN COLINARES LATORRE, JR., MARIA LOURDES CORTEZ UY, BIENVENIDA P. REPOL and RAMON P. DEAN, JR., who are no longer public officials, is DISMISSED.
- For insufficiency of evidence, the administrative complaint against ANAMIE P. MANATAD-NUNEZ and ROSIE AMARO VILLACORTE is DISMISSED.
- The Fact-Finding and Intelligence Office is DIRECTED to conduct further fact-finding investigations on the following:
- On DV Nos. 221-2002-12-083 and 221-2002-11-065: (a) to DETERMINE the other public officials who may be held administratively liable; and (b) to FILE, if necessary, the corresponding Complaint;
- On Bid Nos. 079-2002, 442-2002, 554-2002, 861-2002, 937-2002, 947-2002, 1221-2002, 1375-2002, 1411-2002, 007-2003, 014-2003, 023-2003, 047-2003 and 082-2002: (a) to VERIFY whether actual public biddings took place relative to the transactions covered by these bids; (b) to CHECK the veracity of the documents relative to the repeat orders made; (c) to DETERMINE the other public officials who may appear to be administratively liable therefor; and (d) to FILE, if warranted, the corresponding Complaint; and
- On Bid Nos. 078-2002, 448-2002, 931-2002, 1230-2001, 411-2002, 944-2002, 1244-2002, 1407-2001, 198-2002, 316-2002 and 431-2002: (a) to DETERMINE whether actual public biddings were held relative to the above-mentioned transactions; (b) to CHECK the veracity of the documents relative to the repeat orders made; (c) to ASCERTAIN the other public officials who may be held administratively liable therefor; and (d) to FILE the corresponding Complaint, if warranted.
Accordingly, let a copy of this Memorandum be furnished the Fact- Finding and Intelligence Office for its appropriate action.
SO ORDERED.5 (Emphasis supplied.)
WHEREFORE, the decision of the Ombudsman dated 22 August 2006 in OMB-C-A-05-0051-B in so far as it finds the herein petitioner MAXIMO D. SISON administratively liable for grave misconduct, dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service is hereby REVERSED and SET ASIDE for insufficiency of evidence. Accordingly, he is absolved from administrative liability as charged.
SO ORDERED.6
The IssuesI
Whether the [CA] gravely erred in denying petitioner's right to intervene in the proceedings, considering that (a) the Office of the Ombudsman has sufficient legal interest warranting its intervention in the proceedings before the [CA] since it rendered the subject decision pursuant to its administrative authority over public officials and employees; and (b) contrary to the appellate court a quo's ruling, petitioner Office of the Ombudsman filed its Omnibus Motion to Intervene and to Admit Attached Motion for Reconsideration on a patently erroneous decision of the [CA] which has not yet attained finality.II
Whether the [CA] erred in ruling that the finding of the Office of the Ombudsman was not supported by substantial evidence.III
Whether the [CA] erred in giving due course to respondent's petition for review when this was prematurely filed as it disregarded the well-entrenched jurisprudential doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies.
SECTION 1. Who may intervene. - A person who has a legal interest in the matter in litigation, or in the success of either of the parties, or an interest against both, or is so situated as to be adversely affected by a distribution or other disposition of property in the custody of the court or of an officer thereof may, with leave of court, be allowed to intervene in the action. The court shall consider whether or not the intervention will unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of the rights of the original parties, and whether or not the intervenor's rights may be fully protected in a separate proceeding.
SECTION 2. Time to intervene. - The motion to intervene may be filed at any time before rendition of judgment by the trial court. A copy of the pleading-in-intervention shall be attached to the motion and served on the original parties.9 (Emphasis supplied.)
RA 6975 itself does not authorize a private complainant to appeal a decision of the disciplining authority. Sections 43 and 45 of RA 6975 authorize 'either party' to appeal in the instances that the law allows appeal. One party is the PNP member-respondent when the disciplining authority imposes the penalty of demotion or dismissal from the service. The other party is the government when the disciplining authority imposes the penalty of demotion but the government believes that dismissal from the service is the proper penalty.
However, the government party that can appeal is not the disciplining authority or tribunal which previously heard the case and imposed the penalty of demotion or dismissal from the service. The government party appealing must be the one that is prosecuting the administrative case against the respondent. Otherwise, an anomalous situation will result where the disciplining authority or tribunal hearing the case, instead of being impartial and detached, becomes an active participant in prosecuting the respondent. Thus, in Mathay, Jr. v. Court of Appeals, decided after Dacoycoy, the Court declared:To be sure when the resolutions of the Civil Service Commission were brought to the Court of Appeals, the Civil Service Commission was included only as a nominal party. As a quasi-judicial body, the Civil Service Commission can be likened to a judge who should "detach himself from cases where his decision is appealed to a higher court for review."
In instituting G.R. No. 126354, the Civil Service Commission dangerously departed from its role as adjudicator and became an advocate. Its mandated function is to "hear and decide administrative cases instituted by or brought before it directly or on appeal, including contested appointments and to review decisions and actions of its offices and agencies," not to litigate.
The court or the quasi-judicial agency must be detached and impartial, not only when hearing and resolving the case before it, but even when its judgment is brought on appeal before a higher court. The judge of a court or the officer of a quasi-judicial agency must keep in mind that he is an adjudicator who must settle the controversies between parties in accordance with the evidence and applicable laws, regulations and/or jurisprudence. His judgment should already clearly and completely state his findings of fact and law. There must be no more need for him to justify further his judgment when it is appealed before appellate courts. When the court judge or the quasi-judicial officer intervenes as a party in the appealed case, he inevitably forsakes his detachment and impartiality, and his interest in the case becomes personal since his objective now is no longer only to settle the controversy between the original parties (which he had already accomplished by rendering his judgment), but more significantly, to refute the appellant's assignment of errors, defend his judgment, and prevent it from being overturned on appeal.
The Office of the Ombudsman is not a third party who has a legal interest in the administrative case against the petitioner such that it would be directly affected by the judgment that this Court had rendered. It must be remembered that the legal interest required for an intervention must be direct and immediate in character. Lest it be forgotten, what was brought on appeal before this Court is the very Decision by the Office of the Ombudsman. Plainly, the Office of the Ombudsman, as an adjudicator, and not an advocate, has no legal interest at stake in the outcome of this Rule 43 Petition.21
Endnotes:
1 Rollo, pp. 52-58.
2 Id. at 60-81. Penned by Associate Justice Agustin S. Dizon (retired) and concurred in by Associate Justices Vicente S.E. Veloso and Celia C. Librea-Leagogo.
3 The other local public officials accused were: Ernesto Carcillar Arcales (Vice-Governor); Aurelio A. Bardaje, Jr. (General Service Officer); Numeriano C. Legaspi (GSO Record Officer and Inspector); Rolando Bolastig Montejo (Administrative Officer); Damiano Zerda Conde, Jr. (Treasurer); Romeo Chan Reales (Accountant); Rosie Amaro Villacorte (Representative, Budget Office); and the following Sangguniang Panlalawigan Members: Felix T. Babalcon, Jr., Fe Ortega Tan Arcales, Jimmy R. Dy, Juan Colinares Latorre, Jr., Ma. Lourdes Cortez Uy, Bienvenida P. Repol, Susano Dimakiling Salurio, Ramon P. Dean, Jr., Anamie P. Manatad-Nuñez, Bartolome R. Castillo III, Bartolome P. Figeuroa, Rosenaida A. Rosales, and Antonio De Leon Bolastig III.
4 Rollo, pp. 88-91.
5 Id. at 112-116.
6 Id. at 80.
7 Heirs of Geronimo Restrivera v. De Guzman, G.R. No. 146540, July 14, 2004, 434 SCRA 456, 463.
8 Id.
9 RULES OF COURT, Rule 19.
10 BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 820 (6th ed.).
11 Union Bank of the Philippines v. Concepcion, G.R. No. 160727, June 26, 2007, 525 SCRA 672, 687.
12 Id.
13 G.R. No. 141246, September 9, 2002, 388 SCRA 485.
14 G.R. No. 135805, April 29, 1999, 306 SCRA 425.
15 G.R. No. 124374, December 15, 1999, 320 SCRA 703.
16 G.R. No. 149999, August 12, 2005, 466 SCRA 624, 641-642.
17 Pleyto v. Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), G.R. No. 169982, November 23, 2007, 538 SCRA 534, 549.
18 Calderon v. Solicitor General, G.R. Nos. 103752-53, November 25, 1992, 215 SCRA 876, 881.
19 Supra note 17.
20 RULES OF COURT, Rule 43, Sec. 6(a); Revised Administrative Circular No. 1-95, Sec. 6(a).
21 Rollo, p. 55.
22 G.R. No. 175573, September 11, 2008, 564 SCRA 567.
23 Rule 43, Sec. 5; and Revised Administrative Circular No. 1-95, Sec. 5.
24 Office of the Ombudsman v. Lucero, G.R. No. 168718, November 24, 2006, 508 SCRA 107, 115
25 A.M. No. RTJ-06-2002, November 24, 2006, 508 SCRA 1, 11.