Ombudsman suspends six Customs employees

MANILA, Philippines -  The Office of the Ombudsman has found six Customs employees guilty of neglecting their duties, the Department of Finance (DOF) yesterday said.

In the same decision, the Office of the Ombudsman also ordered the suspension of the three officials for a period of six months without pay.

The suspended employees include Alexander Arcilla, former executive director of the Bureau of Customs’ Office of the Task Force Anti-Smuggling and Office of the Commissioner; Nanie Koh, acting principal examiner, and Roger Manlangit, also a Customs examiner.

In the decision dated Jan. 13, the Office of the Ombudsman also ordered the 10-month suspension of acting chief examiner Facundo Bitanga while another Customs employee, Dionisio Menil, acting warehouseman who already passed away, was slapped the amount of P10,000 as fine. The amount would be taken from Menil’s separation benefits.

The suspended employees allegedly neglected their duties which involved examination of goods and shipments that entered the country’s ports.

Finance Undersecretary Carlo Carag said that cessation from office by reason of resignation, death or retirement does not warrant the dismissal of the administrative case filed against a public officer while he or she was still in the service.

“The jurisdiction of the disciplining authority attaches at the time of the filing of the administrative complaint and is not lost by the mere fact that the respondent public official had ceased to be in office during the pendency of his case,” Carag said.

The Ombudsman also gave a stern warning that a repetition of the same alleged act as dishonesty, grave misconduct, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, neglect of duty, as well as inefficiency and incompetence in the performance of official duties will be dealt with more severely.

“With this, it is proper, at this time, to inculcate in the mind that public service requires the utmost integrity and strictest discipline of all of its servants,” it said.