Ombudsman orders dismissal of 2 Philpost officials

After being found guilty of committing grave misconduct and nepotism, two ranking officials of the Philippine Postal Corp. (Philpost) were ordered dismissed from government service by the Office of the Ombudsman.

In separate decisions, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez ordered the dismissal of Janette Jimenez, postmaster of the Philpost-National Capital Region Office, for grave misconduct and Gerardo Viterbo, director IV of the Philpost Central Office, for nepotism.

According to the Ombudsman, the complaint against Jimenez stemmed from a report submitted by the Commission on Audit (COA) which conducted an examination of the transactions and accounts of Jimenez during her stint as postmaster of the Murphy District Office from June 6 to Sept. 27, 2000.

Based on the COA investigation, while serving as postmaster of the Murphy District Office, P189,540 from the general fund was discovered to be missing.

On Jan. 26, 2001, the COA sent a demand letter to Jimenez directing her to produce the missing funds immediately and to explain why the shortage occurred.

However, she failed to account for or settle the deficiency, prompting the COA to file charges against her before the Office of the Ombudsman.

In an 11-page decision, Gutierrez found Jimenez guilty of grave misconduct, which carries the penalty of dismissal from the service, with forfeiture of all retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from employment in the government.

In a separate decision, the Ombudsman also ordered the dismissal of Viterbo, former regional director of the Philpost-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in Baguio City and now assigned with the Philpost Adjucation Board at the Philpost Central Office in Liwasang Bonifacio, Manila.

The Office of the Ombudsman said Viterbo was found guilty of nepotism for appointing his son Gerardo George as emergency laborer of the Philpost-CAR in 2000 and reappointing him as acting letter carrier at the Baguio City Central Post Office on Aug. 16 of that same year.

The case against Viterbo stemmed from the complaint filed by current Philpost-CAR director Antonio Reyes, who alleged that aside from delivering mail, Gerardo George also doubled as personal driver for the elder Viterbo whenever he was in Manila on official business.

In a 20-page decision, the Ombudsman said there is substantial evidence to charge Viterbo with nepotism for appointing his son in violation of Section 9, Rule 13 of the Revised Omnibus Code and of Section 59, Book 5 of the Administrative Code, which prohibit the hiring of a relative and/or members of the family within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity in any office or branch of the government in the national, provincial, city or municipal level.

The Ombudsman also gave weight to the report of the Civil Service Commission-Cordillera Administrative Region (CSC-CAR), which discovered certain lapses in the appointments processing system of the Philpost-CAR office, including nepotism, designation, hiring of emergency laborers, and non-compliance with certain requirements relative to personnel records management during Viterbo’s term of office.