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Ombudsman suspends Norzagaray mayor for demoting municipal budget officer
27 November 2012

        OMBUDSMAN Conchita Carpio Morales suspended Mayor Feliciano P. Legaspi of Norzagaray, Bulacan for 6 months and 1 day in connection with the administrative case filed against him for demoting Municipal Budget Officer Yolanda C. Ervas last May.
 
          In a 5-page decision signed by Ombudsman Morales on November 19, 2012, the Office found substantial evidence against Legaspi for the charge of Oppression or Grave Abuse of Authority and imposed a penalty of suspension against him pursuant to Section 10, Rule III of Administrative Order No. 7, as amended.
 
          The case stemmed from the complaint filed against Legaspi by Ervas who claimed that her reassignment is an act of oppression and grave abuse of authority since her level of education and qualifications do not match the new position and involves diminution of rank and salary equivalent to constructive dismissal.
 
          In her complaint, Ervas stated that ahead of her reassignment, she wrote a letter dated May 17, 2011 addressed to Legaspi informing the mayor of her observations regarding the overspending and realignment of funds done by certain offices prior to the approval by Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Bulacan of the 2011 Annual Budget of Norzagaray town.
 
          On May 19, 2012, Ervas received an order issued by Legaspi reassigning her to the Norzagaray Public Market “in the exigency of the service and in the interest of public trust.”
 
          In the said order, the complainant was directed, among others, to manage the operation of the public market and supervise market cleaners.
 
          Ervas claimed that her previous position has a Salary Grade of 24, Step 6 while the new position has a Salary Grade of 18, Step 2. Further, she emphasized that Mrs. Pacita Espiritu, her replacement as Municipal Budget Officer, was previously an Administrative Assistant with a Salary Grade of 10, Step 2 and only finished a two-year Secretarial Course.
 
          In the ruling, Ombudsman Morales held that “complainant’s reassignment from Municipal Budget Officer to Administrator of the Norzagaray Public Market is tainted with malice and bad faith, in view of the disparity in the status, qualifications and functions between the two (2) positions.”
 
          While she agreed with Legaspi that reassignment is the prerogative of the local chief executive and may be done in the exigency of service, Ombudsman Morales held that “such reassignment, to be valid, must not involve a reduction in rank, status or salary in line with the mandate of Executive Order No. 292, otherwise known as the Administrative Code of 1987…”
 
          The Code provides that “[a]n employee may be reassigned from one organizational unit to another in the same agency; provided, that such reassignment shall not involve a reduction in rank, status or salaries.”

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