Transco exec guilty of sexual harassment

Cebu - A former assistant Cebu City prosecutor came out victorious in her complaint against a National Transmission Corporation executive whom she accused of sexual harassment after the latter was found guilty of the offense.

The Committee on Decorum and Investigation of Transco found lawyer Noel De Leon guilty of the complaint filed by former assistant city prosecutor Perla Centino. 

Although, De Leon only got a reprimand with a stern warning that a repetition of the act shall be dealt with severely, Centino said she is happy that she was proven right.

In a Memorandum dated November 18, 2008, Transco president and Chief Executive Officer Arthur Aguilar informed De Leon that he is being reprimanded pursuant to the decision of the committee on discipline that found him guilty of the light offense of sexual harassment.

Centino earlier filed a criminal complaint against De Leon before the prosecutors’ office but it was ordered withdrawn by Undersecretary Ernesto Pineda for lack of evidence.

Centino said de Leon, who she identified as her superior at Transco, sent her a text message sometime in November 2005, saying that he wanted to be in bed with her and hear her “moans and groans”. The message was sent after she and other Transco employees had dinner with De Leon in Cebu.

Prior to it, Centino said De Leon also made several verbal statements to her during their previous encounters.

She maintained that the message unnerved her and ultimately caused her to maintain a respectable distance from De Leon.  – Fred P. Languido/BRP (THE FREEMAN)