Ex-Negros mayor fined for firing workers

A former city mayor in Negros Occidental has been ordered to pay a fine for firing 11 state employees in 2002.

The Sandiganbayan found former Escalante City mayor Santiago Barcelona Jr. guilty of violating Republic Act 6656 or the law that protects the tenure of civil service officers and employees.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Samuel Martires and obtained by The STAR over the weekend, the anti-graft court said it recognized the city government’s right to revise the organizational structure and staffing pattern, but the respondent could not use such right to remove permanent employ- ees from their posts.

Barcelona was ordered to pay P5,000 for each of the 11 cases and was disqualified from holding public office.

The charges against the former mayor stemmed from the complaints of 11 city hall employees, including a labor foreman, drivers and utility workers.

The workers’ dismissal was due to a reorganization scheme being implemented then by the city government.

The complainants said their termination had no valid reason and was implemented without notice and hearing.

They said they asked to be reinstated or reappointed, but Barcelona refused to do so.

The Sandiganbayan said the workers’ termination was made in bad faith, noting there were vacancies in the new staffing pattern being implemented by the city government.

“From 211 vacancies in the original plantilla, the available positions rose to 337 with the implementation of the reorganization scheme,” the anti-graft court said.

The court said the more than 50 percent increase in the number of vacancies indicated that the removal of the complainants was made in bad faith and violated the law on security of tenure.