SC fines, suspends court employees for cheating on time cards

The Supreme Court (SC) ordered a stenographer of the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) to pay a fine of P5,000, while two other court employees were slapped with three months’ suspension without pay, for tampering with their daily time records in October 2003.

In a five-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Leonardo Quisumbing, the high court’s third division found court stenographer Analiza Breta, process server Ferdinand Reyes and court aide Eduardo Flores, all of the Manila RTC Branch 39, guilty of dishonesty for falisifying their daily time cards.

The SC ordered Breta to pay a fine of P5,000, while Flores and Reyes were each meted three months’ suspension without pay. "All the respondents are sternly warned that a repetition of the same or similar offense shall be dealt with more severely," the high court said in its resolution.

Meanwhile, non-practicing lawyer Sylvia Banda was dismissed from her job as an administrative officer of the National Printing Office (NPO) for dishonesty and gross insubordination.

Philippine Information Agency (PIA) chief Secretary Renato Velasco confirmed the dismissal of Banda after an investigation committee chaired by Rufino Rivera found her guilty of both charges after a year of tumultuous litigation. The NPO is an agency attached to the PIA.

Banda had repeatedly refused to admit that she had received an office order placing her under the office of NPO assistant superintendent for printing Mariano Sasagat even after her secretary, Eden Taylan, admitted under oath that she had received the order on Banda’s behalf.

The Rivera committee also found Banda guilty of aggravating the charge of gross insubordination when she refused to submit a performance report as required by Sasagat.

Instead of submitting the performance report, Banda issued a memorandum to Sasagat flaunting her knowledge of the law and imputed ill motives on Sasagat’s part, the committee found.

Banda had also sought to derail the investigation against her by seeking temporary restraining orders from the Quezon City RTC at least twice. Her dismissal was served Tuesday afternoon.

The administrative cases against Breta, Reyes and Flores stemmed from the recommendation made on Dec. 9, 2003 by Deputy Court Administrator Christopher Lock to refer the trio’s tampered daily time records to lawyer and Manila RTC clerk of court Perseveranda Ricon for comment and recommendation.

In her comment, Ricon said she submitted the daily time records of the employees for the month of October 2002 to the leave division of the office of the court administrator without erasures or corrections.

Ricon said that, at the end of each month, she checked the daily time records of every employee against the entries in their logbook and whenever there was a discrepancy, she corrected them and placed her initials on the corrections.

She said she also required each of the three employees to explain the tampering.

Breta admitted in an explanation submitted to Ricon that she made alterations on her daily time records in October 2003.

She said that, at that time, her housemaid had left her and that her mother, who suffers from rheumatism, had to watch over her two children, so she had no one to do the household chores.

Breta said she reported to work late because she had to do household chores before leaving for work. She apologized and promised not to tamper with her daily time records again, adding that she would accept whatever punishment the court gives her.

Flores, for his part, said that in October 2003, his wife was hospitalized after a cancer operation, adding that there were days when, after office hours, he would go to the hospital to attend to his wife.

He said he stayed at the hospital until the following morning and that was why he was late in reporting to the office the following day.

Reyes denied altering his daily time records for October 2003, claiming that his daily time record appeared to have alterations because when he copied the entries from the logbook, he overlooked some items and corrected them.

Reyes said that he was not wearing his eyeglasses then and insisted that the entries in his daily time records were correct.

On May 4, 2005, the office of the court administrator said that Breta’s admission of culpability mitigated her offense while Flores’ explanation was not enough to excuse him from liability, though it could also be considered a mitigating circumstance.

The Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) added in its May 4, 2005 findings that Reyes’ explanation was disproved by Ricon in her second endorsement that the daily time records for October 2003 had no erasures when she submitted them to the leave division of the OCA.

The OCA found Breta, Reyes and Flores guilty of dishonesty for falisifying their daily time records, but since these were their first administrative offenses and Breta had admitted and apologized, the OCA reduced the penalties and recommended that Breta be fined P5,000 while Flores and Reyes were suspended without pay for thirty days.

"We agree with the OCA’s recommendation. Public service requires utmost integrity and strictest discipline and all public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency" the High Tribunal said. — Jose Rodel Clapano