Malones obliged to reinstate, pay illegally fired employee

BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA

ILOILO City – Win or lose in the complaint filed against him before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP), Maasin, Iloilo’s Mayor Mariano Malones is obliged to reinstate and pay the back wages of the illegally terminated assistant human resource management officer of the town.

Assuming for the sake of argument that Malones will be exonerated, it does not in any way relieve him of his responsibility on the decision of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), said Iloilo’s Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. over Panay News’ radio program “Reklamo Publiko” yesterday.

“It is still his responsibility to reinstate and pay his terminated employee’s back wages,” said Defensor.

Aside from lodging a complaint to the SP, Elsa Maternal also filed a separate complaint against Malones before the CSC for dismissing her without valid reasons in 2002.

The CSC handed down a decision favoring Maternal and ordered Malones to reinstate her.

It cited Malones for indirect contempt because he had illegally abolished Maternal’s position.

“I advised him to settle this and come up with a win-win solution,” said Defensor.

Since the position has been abolished, Malones should look for any equivalent position for Maternal, he added.

Also under the law, the municipal government should pay the five years’ back wages of Malones since she was terminated in 2002 while the remaining years would be paid by the mayor himself.

Defensor hopes the Sangguniang Bayan of Maasin will help Malones in the appropriation of funds for Maternal’s back wages.

Meanwhile, the governor added that a dismissal of the case will not also prevent Maternal from filing a civil or criminal case for damages against Malones if warranted by evidences.

In tomorrow’s regular session, the SP as a quasi-judicial body will decide on the complaint against Malones./PN