• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has declared “not in order” three orders issued by Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson in 2022, involving the reassignment and subsequent dropping from the rolls of former Provincial Planning and Development Officer Ma. Lina Sanogal.
The orders, issued on March 15 and 19, 2022, reassigned Sanogal from the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) to the Office of the Governor, designated Ana Marie Lucasan as PPDO officer-in-charge, and dropped Sanogal from the provincial government’s rolls for being absent without official leave (AWOL).
Sanogal appealed the actions, arguing that her reassignment was demeaning and humiliating because she was directed to attend to the “special administrative concerns of the office.”
She said she did not report to her reassigned post because the order was vaguely worded and effectively placed her on “floating status.”
The CSC, in its decision promulgated on May 13 this year, found that the reassignment effectively removed Sanogal from the core duties of her position as department head.
By directing Sanogal to report to the Provincial Administrator and perform vaguely defined administrative functions, the reassignment effectively removed her from the core duties of her position and placed her in a role that is neither aligned with nor equivalent to her mandate as department head, the CSC decision noted.
The Commission also rejected the basis for dropping Sanogal from the rolls, finding no intent on her part to abandon her post.
“Clearly, there was no intent on the part of Sanogal to abandon her post,” the CSC said, adding that circumstances showed she intended to return to her position as PPDO, but was not given the opportunity to do so.
The CSC consequently ruled that the order dropping Sanogal from the rolls was “not in order.”
The Commission likewise questioned Lacson’s designation of Lucasan as PPDO OIC, noting that it was made during the election ban without any showing that the required exemption from the Commission on Elections had been secured.
The CSC further said Lucasan’s designation was independently infirm because it resulted from Sanogal’s constructive dismissal.
After finding that Sanogal’s reassignment violated Section 13(a), Rule IV of the 2017 Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions, as amended, the CSC said the supposed vacancy that the designation sought to fill could not be considered valid.
“A designation that merely supplants an employee who was constructively dismissed cannot be sustained,” the CSC said.
It therefore declared Lucasan’s designation as PPDO OIC “not in order” as well.
The CSC ordered the enforcement and monitoring of its order within 10 days from receipt of the notice. | GPB
