Complainant fears reversal of PCAGC resolution

A complainant in an administrative case against a regional director of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) expressed grave concern that the Oct. 27, 2000 resolution of the Presidential Commission Against Graft and Corruption (PCAGC) recommending the respondent’s dismissal might be overturned.

The complainant, LTFRB employee Amelia de la Cruz, said PCAGC chairman Eufemio Domingo and commissioners Jaime Guerrero and Leonardo Rivera signed the resolution recommending the dismissal of lawyer Marcelo Salud, National Capital Region director of the LTFRB.

De la Cruz, in a complaint she filed with the PCAGC on Aug. 31, 1999, charged Salud with "grave misconduct in office, conduct grossly prejudicial to the best interest of the service, dishonesty, incompetence or inefficiency, falsification and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Civil Service Law."

De la Cruz said she went to the Malacañang Legal Office last week, and saw Salud allegedly following up the case.

When she inquired about the status of the case, she said she was informed that the documents have been retrieved from the records section and that the case was assigned to a certain Atty. Jay Concepcion.

De la Cruz expressed concern that the PCAGC resolution against Salud might be overturned just like many resolutions of the commission, despite the evidence against the respondent.

She alleged that the Malacañang Legal Office reversed majority of PCAGC’s recommendations during the previous administration "for reasons inimical to the service."

The PCAGC is a quasi-judicial administrative body created in 1994 during the administration of former President Fidel Ramos, by virtue of Executive Order 151.

The commission investigates administrative complaints against government officials and employees. It is supposed to complement the Office of the Ombudsman which investigates violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

However, the PCAGC, unlike the Office of the Ombudsman, is under the Office of the President, and its decisions are merely recommendatory in nature and can be reversed by Malacañang.