THE Court of Appeals (CA) recently overturned an earlier decision of the Office of the Ombudsman dismissing former Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Cesar Chiong.
The case stemmed from the reassignment of 285 airport employees during the term of Chiong.
In its 13-page decision promulgated on March 21, 2024, the appellate court reversed the August 2023 decision of the Office of the Ombudsman, citing Chiong as guilty of grave abuse of authority, misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
Also named respondent and dismissed due to the case filed by anonymous complainants was then assistant general manager Irene Montalbo, whose designation as OIC was also hit in the complaint, citing an unsatisfactory rating in the 2020 Office Performance Commitment and Review of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1, the office which she headed then.
In May 2023, both of them were placed under preventive suspension and three months later, the Ombudsman ordered their dismissal, prompting them to elevate their case to the CA.
The CA ruled that there was neither a definitive ruling from the Civil Service Commission that the reassignment of the MIAA employees was invalid, nor at least a referral of the case to the CSC for such prior determination, adding that at the very least, the Ombudsman should have referred the complaint to the CSC.
“Consequently, when the Office of the Ombudsman assumed jurisdiction over the complaint and proceeded to rule on the case without the prior ruling of the CSC, the assailed decision should be struck down for prematurity and lack of factual and legal basis,” said the CA ruling, which was penned by Associate Justice Eleuterio Bathan with Associate Justices Zenaida Galapate-Laguilles and Alfredo Ampuan concurring with it.
It added: “Granting that the Office of the Ombudsman made an independent examination of the reassignments from the perspective of grave abuse of authority or oppression, we find the decision to lack factual basis and substantial support in evidence.”
Furthermore, the CA said that an administrative decision should have “something to support itself” such as substantial evidence or enough relevant evidence that is adequate for a reasonable mind to justify a conclusion or support a decision.
The Ombudsman, it added, merely made a general statement that the “reassignment and designation of MIAA employees” were exercised with clear intent to violate the law, or clear disregard of established rules which contradicts the basic purpose of reassignment and designation.”
Chiong was appointed as MIAA acting general manager and member of the board of directors on July 19, 2022 and assumed the positions on July 20, 2022.
Before that, he held a lucrative post in the Philippine Airlines (PAL) and I vividly recall Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista stating with pride that he took in Chiong, knowing that he is the kind of guy who will get things accomplished and would never steal from government coffers.
Chiong took the challenge only to be removed unceremoniously from his post due to complaints of unnamed complainants.
Now that he had been vindicated, what do we expect to happen next? Shouldn’t government at least compensate him for all the anxiety and stress that the case brought upon him and I am sure, his entire family as well.
Notably too, Chiong’s case is not one of corruption or any form of irregularity involving money or government funds. At least…..
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