SC backs CSC probe on school president

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Civil Service Commission has the power to investigate the president of the Central Visayas Polytechnic College contrary to his claim that he could not be investigated by the CSC because he is a presidential appointee.

In an en banc decision penned by Justice Ruben Reyes, the High Court ruled that Henry A. Sojor was not a presidential appointee because it was the members of the Board of Regents who chose him to become the president of CVPC, later named Negros Oriental State University, which is based in Dumaguete City.

Sojor has been charged before the Civil Service Commission-7 for dishonesty, grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, falsification of public documents and nepotism.

Complainants Rene Cepe and Narciso Ranay accused Sojor of dishonesty when he approved the release of salary differentials of some school personnel despite the absence of the required plantilla, salary adjustment form and appointments.

Jocelyn Juanon and Carolina Fe Santos also accused Sojor of falsification of official documents when he reportedly allowed the antedating and falsification of the reclassification of differential payroll, to the prejudice of instructors and professors who have pending request for adjustment of their academic ranks.

Meanwhile, former part-time instructor Rose Marie Palomar filed a complaint for nepotism against Sojor for employing his half-sister, Estrellas Sojor-Managuilas, as the school clerk.

But Sojor questioned the investigation conducted against him by the CSC regional office, claiming that only the Board of Regents has the authority to investigate him.

However, Sojor’s argument was rejected by the Supreme Court, which reversed the ruling of the Court of Appeals that supported his claim.

But the question now is how the CSC regional office could continue to investigate Sojor, whose term as president of the state-run university already ended in 2002. — Rene U. Borromeo/LPM