Penalty imposed on DAR retiree

After 13 years, Malacañang has finally handed down a guilty verdict against a former provincial agrarian reform adjudicator who was charged for gross ignorance of the law, inefficiency and incompetence.

The accused, lawyer Fidel Borres, was ordered to pay a penalty equivalent to his six months’ salary.

The case, however, has spanned three administrations and agrarian reform secretaries, and Borres is now retired from government service.

Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo said the amount will be deducted from his monthly retirement pension.

The administrative complaint against Borres was filed on Aug. 3, 1995 by one Silverio Marabe during the Ramos administration when Ernesto Garilao headed the Department of Agrarian Reform.

The case dragged on until Borres retired from government service in September 2001 when the DAR was under Hernani Braganza.

Braganza had affirmed an earlier decision finding Borres guilty of the charges and recommended his one-year suspension without pay. — Marichu Villanueva