CSC dismisses retiring employee for grave misconduct

www.nordis.net

By LEILANI ADRIANO

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte — A retiring government legal counsel could no longer engage in any public service as the Civil Service Commission (CSC) dismissed him as trial attorney of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for grave misconduct.

In a 13-page decision signed by Atty. Engelbert Anthony D. Unite, Director IV of CSC, Richard Ros Rafales was found guilty for favoring a client of an agrarian dispute to the detriment of the complainant who filed a case against him at the CSC about two years ago.

As noted in the December 2 decision, “It is worthy to note that the certification issued by Rafales which states that “the produce goes only to the Tumaneng’s family”, clearly contradicts the order issued by Gil Baclig of the DARAB, who is the competent body to decide agrarian dispute when it ruled that: any harvest due in the land to be converted to cash and to deposit the same.”

The CSC decision further read, “Rafales being the legal counsel of the tenants/respondents in the DARAB case, it is absurd that he failed to check on previous records of landholdings in question” referring to a pending case in court on the issue of ownership of the disputed lot.

Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Christian Suguitan said Rafales has no longer reported to work since last week prior to the issuance of the CSC decision.

According to Suguitan, Rafales is due to retire next year after he has served DAR for 20 years. # nordis.net