Five officials of the Cebu Provincial Government, who were initially ordered dismissed from public service, have started reporting for work yesterday after the Court of Appeals (CA) downgraded their offense from Grave Misconduct and Gross Neglect of Duty to Simple Misconduct.
Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, in a press conference Monday, confirmed that he had reinstated Assistant Provincial Legal Officer Marino Martinquilla, former Provincial Health Office (PHO) Chief Cristina Giango, former Provincial Treasurer Roy Salubre, Assistant Provincial General Services Officer Bernard Calderon, and Assistant Provincial Engineer Eulogio Pelayre into their respective posts when the CA’s decision was placed in the court’s entry of judgement last Feb. 8.
“I ordered their reinstatement in pursuant of the decision by the Court of Appeals (CA), and the entry of judgment was already made, They sent a letter (last Feb. 13) requesting for their reinstatement,” said Davide.
Martinquilla, Giango, Salubre, Calderon, and Pelayre were initially ordered dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman last December 15 for their participation in procuring the allegedly overpriced materials needed for the construction of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) in Mandaue City.
They were members of the Bid and Awards Committee (BAC) when the Capitol was then headed by former governor and now Deputy House Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia.
The CICC was built in 2006 to serve as venues for two ASEAN Summits held in Cebu City, but it was declared unfit for occupancy by building officials after it sustained damages from the 7.2 magnitude earthquake and Typhoon Yolanda in 2013..
In a phone interview with Cebu Daily News yesterday, Martinquilla said they decided to raise the matter to the CA which released its decision last July 31, 2017. From public dismissal, their penalty was downgraded to a three-month suspension without pay.
“We were ordered to be dismissed last December 2015. When the CA modified the decision of the Ombudsman, it means that the three-month suspension took place in December 2015, too,” explained Martinquilla.
In addition, the CA ordered the Capitol to grant them backwages and all benefits from the time they were dismissed from service, “commencing from the time that they have served the aforestated three-month suspension up to the time of their actual reinstatement.”
This means that the reinstated Capitol officials are granted a 22-month backpay.
Martinquilla said they reported back to the Capitol yesterday, and even attended the flag ceremony led by Davide.
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