Oreta loses money claim dispute with retired CMU president

I HAVE written columns about the plight of Atty. Ramon Maronilla, President of the City of Malabon University from July 2009 to December 2019. He retired from office after more than a decade of dedicated service to the City of Malabon.

Maronilla has impeccable credentials. He is an alumnus of the University of the Philippines College of Law. He was also a member of the UP Board of Regents (2015-2018) and President of the UP Alumni Association during the same period.

The veteran litigation lawyer was also the President of Club Filipino during the centennial celebration of Philippine independence in 1998.

The record shows that Maronilla’s appointment as CMU President was duly approved and repeatedly renewed by the Board of Regents of the CMU. In January 2018, the CMU Board of Regents recognized Maronilla as the fourth president of the university.

While he was CMU President, Maronilla made CMU, which operates under the city government, more accessible to children from Malabon’s many marginalized families. He also got the Commission on Higher Education to recognize CMU’s status as a viable university. nt.

Under CMU’s charter, Maronilla is entitled to the same emoluments received by a member of the city council. In turn, city councilors are entitled to salaries, leaves and accumulated leave credits.

When Maronilla retired from the CMU on December 15, 2019, he rightfully expected the CMU to pay him his corresponding unused, accumulated leave credits.

Soon after he retired, Maronilla wrote several letters to Malabon City Hall officials, Mayor Antolin Oreta included, for the release of the monetary equivalent of his unused accumulated leave credits as CMU President for more than a decade.

Sadly, Oreta and his city hall bureaucrats refused to pay Maronilla what is due him. They gave the lame excuse that the city government never issued to him a full-time appointment as CMU President, and that his claim must be denied pursuant to certain alleged guidelines issued by the Civil Service Commission.

The Malabon City Hall officials who rejected Maronilla’s request include Maria Caridad Soco (human resources officer); Atty. Rosalyn de Silva (assistant city legal officer); Jayson San Juan (human resource officer) and Attys. Ryan Carlo Escalada and Hermilia Campos-Banayat (city legal officers).

Determined to obtain what he is lawfully entitled to as retired CMU President, Maronilla filed a petition in court for a writ of mandamus to compel Malabon City Hall officials to release to him the monetary value of his unused, accumulated leave credits.

Being a resident of San Juan City, Metro Manila, Maronilla filed the petition in the Regional Trial Court in that city.

As expected, the Malabon city government opposed Maronilla’s petition. They gave the court the same reasons they told Maronilla earlier.

Surprisingly, among the documentary evidence submitted to the court by the Malabon city government is an advisory from the Civil Service Commission issued by the Commission to the city government itself in response to the city government’s query about Maronilla’s claim.

The Civil Service Commission’s advisory categorically said that Maronilla’s claim is valid and lawful. This means the city government of Malabon is obligated by law to pay Maronilla his claim for the monetary equivalent of his unused, accumulated leave credits.

Maronilla withdrew his petition in court, and urged the Malabon city government to comply with what the Civil Service Commission stated.

Meanwhile, one Gary Santos Garcia, a resident of Malabon City, lodged an anti-graft complaint in the Office of the Ombudsman against Mayor Oreta. That case, however, is another story.

Anyway, on May 11, 2022, the Malabon City legal department wrote a letter to Mayor Oreta, informing the latter that pursuant to the aforesaid advisory of the Civil Service Commission, the Malabon City government should pay Maronilla his unused, accumulated leave credits, as claimed.

“Here, it becomes imperative to grant the commutation of the leave credits, as claimed,” read the last paragraph of the letter. It was signed by Attys. Banayat and de Silva.

Naturally, Maronilla was very happy with this development.

Maronilla’s victory at this stage notwithstanding, the question is whether or not Mayor Oreta will do what is right and instruct the city’s treasurer and human resources officer to pay Maronilla what is due him, once and for all.

The letter is dated May 11, 2022. It was submitted in a court proceeding. Mayor Oreta stays in office until June 30, 2022. Thus, Oreta has no excuse not to pave the way for the immediate release of the money that is lawfully due Maronilla.

It will be well for Oreta to pay Maronilla within his remaining days in city hall (he is ineligible to continue in office after June 30). That way, Maronilla will have no reason to sue Oreta and his minions before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The CSC said Maronilla’s claim is valid and lawful (which) means the city government of Malabon is obligated by law to pay Maronilla his claim for the monetary equivalent of his unused, accumulated leave credits