HARASSMENT?
DENR employee cries foul over deletion of her name in payroll
Jardinico
Iloilo -- She was one of the leading figures in the protest actions against former Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Regional Executive Director Vicente Paragas more than a year ago. She did not expect that by leading her colleagues in protesting the delay in their salaries she could lose her job.
Fifty-four year old Lucia Jardinico, chief of DENR's Forest Management Services division, is seeking justice for the unreasonable deletion of her name from their office payroll.
Paragas caused the hardships Jardinico is facing. On March 1, 2005 Paragas issued a memorandum deleting Jardinico from the payroll. He cited Jardinico for insubordination after the latter refused to transfer to Roxas City as ordered by Paragas in December 6, 2004.
Jardinico told The News Today that she contested the order believing that it was a clear harassment on her part for leading the earlier protests against Paragas. Jardinico acted as spokesperson of the group of employees who protested the delay in the release of their salaries sometime in 2004.
However, despite the deletion of her name from the payroll Jardinico continued to report to her office. She brought the matter to the DENR central office but was left unattended. She also filed cases in the Ombudsman Visayas against Paragas, unfortunately she lost.
Incidentally, in August 2005 when Celso Loriega replaced Paragas as regional executive director he put back Jardinico's name in the payroll. By then Jardinico again received her salary every 15th and 30th of the month but not the back wages from March to July 2005.
Jardinico that time thought she could already work normally but she was wrong. Loriega was relieved late last year with Julian Amador taking over his post. At the start of January 2006 Amador ordered Administrative Officer Atty. Elmer Camarista to enforce the March 1, 2005 order of Paragas deleting Jardinico's name from the payroll.
Jardinico was surprised thinking that Paragas' order was already automatically revoked when Loriega reappointed her in August 2005.
Jardinico, who has worked with DENR for the past 27 years, surmised Paragas is still behind her recent deletion from the payroll.
"He (Paragas) is using extra judicial means to penalize me for what I've done to him when he was still the regional executive director," Jardinico said. The News Today learned that Paragas is currently assigned at the DENR central office.
Jardinico stressed there is no reason for Amador to delete her name from the payroll as there is not even one order terminating or dismissing her from the office. She also could not recall having violated any office policies that would merit her dismissal.
Jardinico related the difficulty she is currently facing as a result of having her name deleted from the payroll again. She said the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has already suspended the payment of premiums for her loan. Jardinico is also scampering on where to get money to pay her Pag-ibig loan and the tuition for her student.
Jardinico said he has brought her woes to the attention of Amador only to be ignored. She said Amador merely followed what Paragas started.
The News Today tried to get the side of Amador over the weekend but he was not available at press time.