EN BANC
G.R. No. 210683, January 08, 2019
DR. CONSOLACION S. CALLANG, Petitioner, v. COMMISSION ON AUDIT, Respondent.
D E C I S I O N
REYES, J. JR., J.:
Before this Court is a petition for certiorari under Rule 64 of the Revised Rules of Court which seeks to reverse and set aside the November 20, 2013 Decision No. 2013-199 of the Commission on Audit (COA).1
Factual background
On November 17, 2005, petitioner Dr. Consolacion S. Callang (Callang) encashed various checks in the total amount of P987,027.50 for the payment of the 2005 Year-End Bonus and Cash Gift of the teaching and non-teaching personnel of Bambang District I, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. She was then a District Supervisor of Bambang District I, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, Department of Education (DepEd).2
After her transaction at the Land Bank of the Philippines, Solano Branch, Callang, together with other principals from Bambang District Schools, had their lunch at a nearby fast-food restaurant. Then, she returned to her office to personally distribute the bonuses to the concerned personnel - only P449,573.00 of the total amount was handed out because not all personnel were present. Callang wanted to entrust the remaining cash of P537,454.50 to Rizalino Lubong (Lubong), the District Statistician, for safekeeping, but the latter refused, prompting her to bring the money home instead.3
On November 18, 2005, Callang first went to the Saint Mary's University to bring snacks to her granddaughter before heading for her office. While she was on board a jeepney, one of her co-passengers declared a robbery while the vehicle was traversing the National Highway in Macate, Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya. The robber took the bag of money Callang was carrying as well as her personal belongings. The passengers of the robbed jeepney immediately reported the incident to the authorities. In the same vein, Callang notified the Schools Division Superintendent (SDS) volunteering to be submitted for inquiry.
In a letter dated November 18, 2005, the SDS reported the robbery to the Audit Team Leader (ATL), Bambang District I, DepEd, Nueva Vizcaya. Likewise, in a letter dated November 24, 2005, Callang informed the ATL regarding the robbery and asked for assistance to support her request for relief from money accountability.4
In his January 17, 2011 Memorandum,5 the ATL opined that Callang was not negligent in the loss of funds and her request for Relief of Cash Accountability should be granted. It explained that Callang had no other choice but to bring home the money she had encashed. The ATL noted that there had been at least four previous burglary incidents in her office and that there was no safety vault in her office but only a wooden cabinet and a steel cabinet. It posited that the loss of money was beyond her control and had exercised sufficient diligence in safeguarding the funds. Meanwhile, in its March 17, 2011 Indorsement6 to the COA Adjudication and Settlement Board (COA-ASB), the Supervising Auditor (SA) agreed with the ATL's findings that there was no negligence on the part of Callang for the loss of money as it was caused by the robbery incident.
However, the Officer-in-Charge-Regional Director (OIC-RD) of COA Regional Office No. 2, Tuguegarao City opined that Callang was negligent in handling the funds as an accountable officer. The same was affirmed by the COA-ASB in its September 29, 2011 Decision7 finding negligence on the part of Callang and that her request for relief was filed beyond the reglementary period of 30 days reckoned from the occurrence of the loss.
Aggrieved, Callang filed a petition for review before the COA.
Assailed COA Decision
In its November 20, 2013 Decision, the COA affirmed the COA-ASB Decision. Although it found that Callang's request for relief was timely filed, it agreed that her request should be denied on account of her negligence. The COA explained that Callang failed to provide adequate precautionary and safety measures to protect government funds under her custody. It pointed out that she took great risk when she took her lunch at a fast-food restaurant instead of returning immediately to the school. The COA also highlighted that negligence can be attributed to Callang due to the fact that she opted to bring the money home even if there was a safety deposit box in her office. The COA Decision read:
WHEREFORE, there being no new and material evidence presented that would warrant the reversal of the assailed decision, the instant Petition of Dr. Consolacion S. Callang is hereby DENIED for lack of merit. Accordingly, the Adjudication and Settlement Board Decision No. 2011-136 dated September 29, 2011 is hereby AFFIRMED.8Hence, this present petition, raising:
Callang argued that the COA flip-flopped in handling her request for release from liability considering that the ATL and the SA initially found that she was at no fault for the loss. She also assailed that the findings of the ATL and the SA should have been given more weight than the opinion of the OIC-RD considering that they were more familiar with the situation in the field.ISSUE
WHETHER OR NOT RESPONDENT COMMISSION ON AUDIT COMMITTED GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION AND GRAVE ERROR IN ISSUING THE DECISION FINDING PETITIONER NEGLIGENT IN THE LOSS OF THE AMOUNT OF P537,454.50 THROUGH ROBBERY AND THEREBY DENYING PETITIONER'S RELIEF FROM ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH THE SAID LOSS.9
First, not all pleadings and parts of case records are required to be attached to the petition. Only those which are relevant and pertinent must accompany it. The test of relevancy is whether the document in question will support the material allegations in the petition, whether said document will make out a prima facie case of grave abuse of discretion as to convince the court to give due course to the petition.It is beyond cavil that the decision or recommendation of the ATL and the SA are relevant in the determination of whether the COA acted with grave abuse of discretion in denying Callang's request for relief from accountability. Here, Callang ascribes grave abuse of discretion on the part of the COA for disregarding the findings of the ATL and the SA, which were in a better position to be knowledgeable of the present conditions in the field.
Second, even if a document is relevant and pertinent to the petition, it need not be appended if it is shown that the contents thereof can also [sic] found in another document already attached to the petition. Thus, if the material allegations in a position paper are summarized in a questioned judgment, it will suffice that only a certified true copy of the judgment is attached.
Third, a petition lacking an essential pleading or part of the case record may still be given due course or reinstated (if earlier dismissed) upon showing that petitioner later submitted the documents required, or that it will serve the higher interest of justice that the case be decided on the merits.
Negligence is the omission to do something that a reasonable man, guided upon those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or the doing of something which a prudent man and [a] reasonable man could not do. Stated otherwise, negligence is want of care required by the circumstances. Negligence is, therefore, a relative or comparative concept. Its application depends upon the situation the parties are in, and the degree of care and vigilance which the prevailing circumstances reasonably require. Conformably with this understanding of negligence, the diligence the law requires of an individual to observe and exercise varies according to the nature of the situation in which she happens to be, and the importance of the act that she has to perform. (Emphasis supplied)In ascribing negligence on Callang, the COA noted that she: (1) opted to have her lunch at a fast-food restaurant instead of going back directly to her school; (2) brought home the money in spite of the existence of a safety cabinet in her office; and (3) stopped by her granddaughter's school before going to her office the following day. A careful review of the records, however, would show that there is no substantial evidence to support Callang's alleged negligence.
Hindsight is a cruel judge. It is so easy to say, after the event, that one should have done this and not that or that he should not have acted at all, or else this problem would not have arisen at all. That is all very well as long as one is examining something that has already taken place. One can hardly be wrong in such a case. But the trouble with this retrospective assessment is that it assumes for everybody an uncanny prescience that will enable him by some mysterious process to avoid the pitfalls and hazards that he is expected to have foreseen. It does not work out that way in real life. For most of us, all we can rely on is a reasoned conjecture of what might happen, based on common sense and our own experiences, or our intuition, if you will, and without any mystic ability to peer into the future. So it was with the petitioner.19To emphasize, Callang's choice of bringing the money home was not fraught with negligence. In fact, it is not hard to fathom that a reasonable and diligent person would have acted the same way as Callang did under the present circumstances. Her office had been subjected to numerous burglaries in the past and it was not equipped with an adequate compartment where the money can be safely stored until the following day.
In addition, it was found that the use of the steel cabinet was not a wise and prudent decision. The steel cabinet, even when locked, at times could be pulled open, thus it can be surmised that even without the use of a key, the robbery could be committed once the culprits succeed in entering the room (Progress Report of the Police dated February 28, 1985). Moreover, the original key of the steel cabinet was left inside a small wooden box placed near the steel cabinet; it is therefore highly possible that the said steel cabinet was opened with the use of its original key (Police Alarm Report).In the present case, Callang had sufficient reason not to leave the money inside the steel cabinet in her office. This is especially true considering that her office had been victimized by burglars in the past. Without a safety vault, a would be intruder would not find it difficult to force open the steel cabinet and steal the money deposited therein. Consequently, Callang's decision to bring the money home was the reasonable and responsible choice given the situation. The fact that she was robbed on her way to work the following day was beyond her control.
Very truly yours, (SGD) EDGAR O. ARICHETA Clerk of Court |
Endnotes:
* No part, in view of prior participation as Solicitor General.
1 Concurred in by Chairperson Ma. Gracia M. Pulido Tan and Commissioners Heidi L. Mendoza and Rowena V. Guanzon; rollo, pp. 17-22.
2 Id. at 17.
3 Id.
4 Id. at 19.
5 Id. at 120-121.
6 Id. at 122-123.
7 Not attached in the rollo.
8Rollo, pp. 20-21.
9 Id. at 5.
10 Id. at 47-58.
11 Id. at 110-118.
12 741 Phil. 394, 402 (2014), citing Galvez v. Court of Appeals, 708 Phil. 9, 20 (2013).
13Cruz v. Hon. Gangan, 443 Phil. 856, 865 (2003).
14 G.R. No. 211937, March 21, 2017, 821 SCRA 211, 221.
15Rollo, p. 23.
16 Id. at 120.
17 750 Phil. 413, 433 (2015).
18 258-A Phil. 604 (1989).
19 Id. at 610.
20 275 Phil. 887, 893 (1991).
21Rollo, pp. 36-37.