Legal officer: Memorandum excluding Jardinico from payroll stays
Iloilo -- The legal opinion of Atty. Romeo Mijares, chief, Legal Division of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was actually the basis for the deletion from the payroll of the name of Lucia Jardinico effective January this year.
The Legal Division chief in answer to the request for legal opinion of former Administrative Division chief Janette Sapilan contended that the memorandum dated March 1, 2005 issued by former Regional Executive Director Vicente Paragas deleting Jardinico's name from the payroll still remains unrevoked.
'(T)he reinclusion of her name in the payroll effective August 2005 without written revocation or amendment to said Memorandum dated March 1, 2005 by an equally qualified or higher authority, is considered improper. Although we believe that the legality of the deletion of her name in the payroll could still be subject of an administrative or judicial scrutiny the fact remains that the Memorandum still remains unrevoked,' reads part of the legal opinion written by Atty. Mijares.
Former regional executive director Celso Loriega who replaced Paragas in July 2005 reinstated Jardinico's name in the payroll August 2005.
However, a check with the Administrative Division now headed by Atty. Elmer Camarista showed that there was no written order to the effect.
When Julian Amador assumed the post of Loriega December last year the issue again cropped up after Sapilan sought legal opinion on the matter.
'Since the the re-inclusion of her name (Jardinico) in the payroll is not in order; inversely, exclusion of her name in the payroll effective January 2006 is proper,' says Mijares.
To note, Paragas ordered the deletion of Jardinico from the payroll three months after the latter refused to obey the order transferring her to Roxas City. The said order was reportedly affirmed by former DENR Secretary Michael Defensor.
'Although the concerned personnel (Jardinico) has filed a letter asking for reconsideration of Secretary Michael T. Defensor's Special Order No. 2004-887 dated December 22, 2004, she should have reported for duty to her place of assignment in the meantime that her letter of reconsideration has not yet been resolved and the Order lifted or revoked,' Mijares noted, adding, 'Had she reported for duty at her designated place of assignment, all subsequent events such as the filing of and administrative case against her and the abovementioned legal issues could have been avoided and the problems solved.'
Earlier, Jardinico told The News Today that her exclusion from the payroll is a form of harassment for previously leading the protests against Paragas.
To note, Jardinico was a known figure in the protest actions against Paragas more than a year ago with regard to the delay in employees' salaries.
She even wondered why Amador allowed the exclusion of her name in the payroll when she was already included during Loriega's term.
Meanwhile, Camarista clarified that he was not the one who reimplemented the Memorandum excluding Jardinico from the payroll as he only assumed office starting February.
He said the reimplementation of the Memorandum took effect January 2006 during the time still of his predecessor Sapilan.