• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Dismissed Capitol employee Hermenigildo Basilio has sought the help of Civil Service Commission regarding the review and reversal of the decision of the provincial government of Negros Occidental on his dismissal from government service, which he described as “without the requisite substantial evidence.”
In his appeal memorandum submitted to CSC, Basilio, who had been a provincial government employee for 13 years, claimed that the disciplining authority, represented by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, committed grave abuse of discretion and serious errors, in fact and in law, when it approved the recommendation of its hearing officer and ordered his dismissal from service for alleged grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and malversation of public funds, based on alleged “substantial evidence.”
Basilio assailed the decision, claiming that it miserably failed to discharge the burden of proving his guilt by substantial evidence, as he further claimed that allegations against him are “erroneous and not supported with any piece of evidence.”
The dismissal of Basilio from government service stemmed from the missing 789 sacks of fertilizers worth P2.3 million, from the Rice Processing Center in Brgy. Tabunan, Bago City, where he and Joy Cardinal had been assigned.
In his defense, Basilio said that the disciplining authority has not produced any evidence that he received 2,000 bags of fertilizers from the Department of Agriculture, and that he was stationed at the warehouse, as well as that he has the duty to safekeep and distribute the fertilizers.
He explained that the acknowledgement receipt he had signed, on order of his division chief, was for the delivery of 1,920 bags of fertilizers delivered by Juantong Agri Ventures on July 4, 2022, which were completely unloaded to the RPC warehouse and confirmed by the guard on duty, as recorded in the log book.
“The fertilizers delivered to the RPC past office hours at around 9 p.m. is another untruthful and baseless factual allegations of Appellee (Lacson), which allegations is debunked by the logbook entries showing that the first delivery was around 3 p.m. and the third delivery was completely unloaded around 9 p.m., as corroborated by the joint affidavit of Ricky Toledo and John Paulo Librado,” Basilio added.
He further stressed that he was dismissed from service for a grave offense, which was never substantiated or proven by the appellee.
This situation is a clear injustice to any person, specifically herein appellant, to be charged with serious offenses and subsequently publicly maligned therefore, based on mere allegations, and further imposed on the person charged the obligation to prove his innocence, Basilio further said.
He asked the CSC to determine the legality of his preventive suspension previously imposed upon him by the disciplining authority, speedy disposition of his case, order for his immediate reinstatement, and payment of back wages and other reliefs under the 2017 RACCS.*
