The Supreme Court has affirmed the dismissal of a former lawyer in the then Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs for grave misconduct and serious dishonesty after being found in possession of the missing case records in connection with the murder of Ruby Rose Barrameda-Jimenez (Barrameda), whose body was found covered in hardened concrete inside a steel drum in Navotas City in 2009.
In a Decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, the Court En Banc denied the petition for review on certiorari filed by Jerik Roderick V. Jacoba and granted the petition for review on certiorari filed by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and former Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa, Jr. (ES Ochoa). The consolidated petitions assailed the rulings of the Court of Appeals (CA) finding Jacoba guilty of simple misconduct.
In 2009, police officers recovered the body of Barrameda in a steel drum from the waters of Navotas City. Barrameda had been missing for more than two years before her body was discovered.
The following year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) resolved to indict Manuel Jimenez III (Jimenez), Barrameda’s husband, for parricide. Jimenez appealed the DOJ’s resolution of his indictment before the Office of the President (OP). The DOJ thus forwarded the Barrameda case records to the Legal Affairs Office of the OP.
Sometime in February 2012, then Undersecretary Ronaldo A. Geron of the OP inquired on the status of the Jimenez appeal, but the Barrameda case records could not be located.
Following an investigation, the missing records, with the draft decision, were eventually found in a locked filing cabinet used by Jacoba. The case records and the draft decision were immediately forwarded to ES Ochoa, who denied Jimenez’s appeal for lack of merit on the same day.
After an investigation by the Office of the Executive Secretary (OES), ES Ochoa authorized the OP’s Internal Affairs and Complaints Committee to issue a formal charge for grave misconduct and serious dishonesty against Jacoba. He then directed the creation of a Panel of Hearing Officers and the Prosecution Panel.
The Executive Secretary found Jacoba guilty of the charges against him and dismissed him from government service. Jacoba appealed before the CSC, but was denied. When Jacoba brought his case to the CA, the appellate court partly granted his appeal, finding him guilty of simple neglect of duty instead of grave misconduct and serious dishonesty.
The CSC moved for reconsideration while Jacoba moved for partial reconsideration, but the CA denied both motions, prompting the present petitions before the Court.
In resolving the petitions, the Court first stressed that findings of facts of administrative bodies and quasi-judicial agencies, such as the CSC, when supported by substantial evidence, are treated with great respect and even finality by courts in recognition of the former’s specialty in their respective fields.
The CSC, in particular, as the central personnel agency of the Government, is empowered to discipline its officials and employees in accordance with law, to ensure that only persons with proven integrity and fitness get the privilege of serving the public.
Among the transgressions investigated by the CSC are misconduct, or such unlawful behavior or gross negligence by a public officer. When attended with corruption, willful intent, or disregard of established rules, such misconduct is considered grave.
Dishonesty, on the other hand, is the disposition to lie, cheat, deceive, or defraud, which is considered serious when it causes serious damage and grave prejudice to the government, exhibits moral depravity, or employs fraud, among other analogous circumstances.
In the present case, the Court found that the evidence on record substantially supports the CSC’s findings of fact that Jacoba committed grave misconduct and serious dishonesty.
As noted by the CSC, the missing case records were never previously assigned to Jacoba, yet they were found in a cabinet owned and controlled by him.
Further, his ill motives were bolstered by his previous actuation that when asked of the whereabouts of the missing case record, Jacoba was quick to reply, “bakit ko sasabihin?,” without even ascertaining the details of the missing document or showing any slight concern that indeed, a case record in the office where he belongs is missing.
The Court further noted that Jacoba had full access to the areas where the missing case records were last seen, with such records eventually located in a locked file cabinet under his control and for his exclusive use.
“These are relevant pieces of evidence that substantially support the conclusion that Jacoba abused his influence and authority to spirit away the case records, hide them in a filing cabinet under his control, and then refuse to reveal their whereabouts when asked about them,” the Court ruled.
Such grave misconduct and serious dishonesty warrant Jacoba’s dismissal and perpetual disqualification from government service, concluded the Court.
The Court also imposed the following accessory penalties on Jacoba: forfeiture of all retirement benefits; perpetual disqualification from re-employment in the government service; cancellation of civil service eligibility; and bar from taking the civil service examinations.
FULL TEXT OF G.R. No. 240517 (CSC v. Executive Secretary Ochoa, Jr.) and G.R. No. 240688 (Jacoba v. CSC and Executive Secretary Ochoa, Jr., June 7, 2023) at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/240517-240688-civil-service-commission-and-paquito-n-ochoa-jr-executive-secretary-vs-jerik-roderick-v-jacoba-jerik-roderick-v-jacoba-vs-civil-service-commission-and-paquito-n-ochoa-jr-exec/