AFTER making news last week that her indictment had been affirmed by the Office of the Ombudsman, Grace Jamio, the Public Employment Service Officer of Lapu-Lapu City, filed a Petition for Certiorari before the Supreme Court assailing the Ombudsman’s resolution.
In her petition, Jamio questioned the Ombudsman’s decision indicting her of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019) for allegedly promoting a private firm, AB Tutorial and Languages Center, to 15 prospective job applicants for Korea, saying that she “strongly believe(s) that said aforementioned resolution and order are both not in accord with existing laws and jurisprudence.”
R.A. No. 3019 prohibits public officials from causing undue injury to any party or the government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.
According to the records of the Ombudsman, Jamio, in her capacity as PESO manager of Lapu-Lapu City, was invited to the launching of the E-registration of workers for overseas employment assistance in the province of Negros Oriental.
During the orientation on September 20, 2013, Jamio told the applicants present that before they would be accepted for a job in Korea, they needed to be proficient in the Korean language as the “human resource of the government of South Korea would conduct an examination in Korean without English translation”.
Jamio then allegedly “enticed” 15 prospective overseas Filipino workers to enroll in the Korean language program of AB Tutorial, represented by Buenaventura Igot and Arturo Aliazon. The course fee was P8,500.00, with the assurance that “there is an on-going government-to-government program wherein factory workers will be deployed to Korea.”
However, after the applicants completed the training with AB Tutorial, they discovered that the private firm was not accredited with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) or the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA).
A subsequent charge for large scale illegal recruitment under R.A. 8042 that was filed against Jamio was eventually dismissed by the Regional Trial Court–Branch 33 of Dumaguete City.
Presiding Judge Fe Bustamante ruled that “Jamio did not entice interested parties that a job in Korea would be provided for a fee” and that what she did “was to provide (a) venue where people could explore various employment opportunities and provided clients with adequate information on prospective employment abroad”.
Despite the dismissal of the illegal recruitment case against her, the Office of the Ombudsman still affirmed her indictment for violation of R.A. 3019, which compelled Jamio to file the Petition for Certiorari after her Motion for Reconsideration was denied.
“Sad to say, without any summons from the Office of the Ombudsman,” Jamio said in a Facebook message, referring to the complaint filed against her.
“Ang na-receive na lang nako is the resolution. Ni-file mi og motion for recon(sideration), but gi-deny. So last July this year, ni-file mi sa Supreme Court og certiorari. Wala pa ko’y nadawat after that,” she said.
In indicting Jamio, the Office of the Ombudsman ruled that “Jamio’s blatant endorsement of AB Tutorial, despite the free courses being offered by the POEA and TESDA, is tainted with badges of partiality and malice.”
In her petition for certiorari filed last July 22, Jamio asked the Supreme Court to set aside the ruling of the Ombudsman for lack of probable cause.