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BY MAE SINGUAY
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Thursday, December 22, 2016
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BACOLOD City – Fifty-one more city hall employees whose appointments then mayor Monico Puentevella revoked early this year were reinstated.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia effected their return to the city government on Tuesday via Memorandum No. 237.
He signed the memo in front of the 51 employees, who paid him a courtesy visit at the Bacolod City Government Center on the same day.
The employees considered their reinstatement a “Christmas gift.”
The Civil Service Commission (CSC) Region 6 declared Puentevella’s Executive Order (EO) No. 004-02-2016 “not in order” and “invalid.” It then directed Leonardia to reinstate the 51 workers.
The 51 employees composed the second batch of city government workers to haul Puentevella to the CSC for alleged illegal dismissal.
Leonardia reinstated 10 employees who made up the first batch on Nov. 21 via Memorandum No. 196.
All 61 workers were among the 81 either hired or promoted by then vice mayor Greg Gasataya on Jan. 15, Jan. 26 and Feb. 5.
At the time, Gasataya (now congressman) was serving as acting mayor while Puentevella, charged with graft over an allegedly anomalous computer purchase, was serving a 90-day suspension.
When he returned to office in February, Puentevella issued EO Nos. 044-2016 and 004-02-2016, revoking all appointments Gasataya made.
The employees brought their case to the CSC Region 6 in March.
Now they were planning to charge Puentevella with violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for “grave abuse of authority resulting to injury.”
“What Puentevella did was gross disregard and disrespect of the law,” the reinstated employees stressed.
Puentevella either was “grossly ignorant” of the law, which is tantamount to gross negligence, or intentionally violated it, which “constitutes malice,” they said.
As acting mayor, Gasataya had the power to hire and terminate workers, considering that he occupied the post for more than 30 working days, City Legal Officer Joselito Bayatan said, citing Section 46 of the Local Government Code.
Bayatan stressed the appointments were “validly done” and the concerned employees had the “right to security of tenure.”/PN
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