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ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS
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ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 71 -
DISMISSING FROM THE SERVICE ASSISTANT PROVINCIAL PROSECUTOR ILDEFONSO
C. TARIO OF BATAAN FOR INSUBORDINATION AND GROSS NEGLECT OF DUTY
This refers to the administrative complaint
filed by Concordia Valencia against Assistant Provincial Prosecutor
Ildefonso C. Tario of Bataan for Insubordination and Gross Neglect of
Duty. The charges were investigated by the Office of the Regional
Prosecutor. Region III and the Office of the State Prosecutor,
Department of Justice.
The case stemmed from the criminal complaint for Estafa Through
Falsification of Public Document (I.S. No. 96-369) filed sometime in
April 1996 by herein complainant Concordia Valencia against Violeta
Ganzon, et al. before the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of
Bataan. After the case was assigned to respondent Tario, complainant
filed a motion to set case for preliminary investigation,
reiterated in a subsequent motion of July 9, 1996.
Owing to respondent's inaction, complainant filed with the Department
of Justice on September 5, 1996, a letter-complaint charging the former
with failure to finish the preliminary investigation of the case as
soon as possible." which was endorsed by Assistant Chief Prosecutor
(ACSP) Nilo C. Mariano to respondent for comment/appropriate action and
submission of report on the action on the estafa case. An urgent motion
for early resolution of the case having been filed by complainant on
October 17, 1996, ACSP Francisco L. Santos referred the same for
appropriate action to Regional State Prosecutor (RSP) Carlos de Leon of
Region III who, in turn, relayed it to respondent Tario, with a
directive for him to submit within two (2) days from receipt thereof,
his comment/explanation for the undue delay in the resolution of the
estafa case. On January 16, 1997, RSP, De Leon again ordered respondent
to submit his comment/explanation but, as in the case of the previous
directives, he ignored the same.
On March 17, 1997, complainant filed the instant complaint with the
Justice Department, which was endorsed to RSP De Leon for appropriate
action. On the following day, the complaint was transmitted to
respondent to be answered in writing within five (5) days from receipt
thereof.
In his defense. respondent averred that he had the resolution prepared
as early as June 1996, but before it could be approved by Provincial
Prosecutor Erasto D. Tanciongco, he was asked by complainant to
schedule the case for clarificatory questioning, which he set to July
16, 1996 but complainant and her counsel did not appear. Respondent
further alleged that he was requested by complainant's son to
reschedule the clarificatory questioning to July 22, 1996, but then
again complainant and her counsel failed to appear. Finally, respondent
stated that Mayor Carlos Valencia of Abucay, Bataan, offered to mediate
between the litigants and said request was granted by Provincial
Prosecutor Tanciongco.
For her part, complainant by way of reply, among others, denied
respondent's allegations.
During the pendency of the administrative proceedings, the estafa case
was re-assigned to Asst. Provincial Prosecutor Manalo Velasco for
preliminary investigation in the course of which it was discovered that
the records of the case were missing and were found, on May 28, 1997,
in the case folder of "People of the Philippines vs. Constancio
Salenga" being handled by Provincial Prosecutor Tanciongco.
On June 13, 1997, during the hearing of the administrative case against
respondent by RSP De Leon, the former claimed that he prepared the
resolution on the estafa case on June 24, 1996, and forwarded it for
appropriate action to Provincial Prosecutor Tanciongco who caused the
undue delay in the resolution of the case. At this juncture, respondent
moved for Tanciongco's inclusion in the administrative case.
After due investigation, RSP De Leon found respondent Tario guilty of
Insubordination and Neglect of Duty and recommended that he be
suspended for one (1) month, in view of his admission of the
Insubordination charge, plea for compassion and being a first offender.
With regard to respondent Tanciongco, RSP De Leon found that he was
remiss in his duty as head of office in monitoring the cases assigned
to respondent Tario and hence, recommended that he be warned that
repetition of the same omission will be dealt with more severely.
Upon review, the Office of the State Prosecutor concurred in the
recommendation for respondent Tario's suspension for one (1) month. As
to respondent Tanciongco, he was recommended to be admonished to
exercise more care in the performance of his official duties and warned
that repetition of the same offense will merit a more drastic penalty.
In his letter to the President dated December 7, 1998, Justice
Secretary Serafin R. Cuevas disagrees with the above recommendations.
Brushing, aside the alleged mitigating circumstances in favor of
respondent Tario, Secretary Cuevas emphasized that it took several
directives from his superiors before respondent Tario capitulated and
submitted his comment thereon, in utter disregard of prosecutors' duty
to immediately respond to directives of the Justice Department. The
Justice Secretary further underscored the peremptory nature of DOJ
Circular No. 35, dated September 17, 1991, violated by respondent
Tario, which mandates the resolution of cases for preliminary
investigation within ninety (90) days from the date of assignment to
the investigating prosecutor.
As to respondent Tario's threshold defense that he had prepared the
resolution on the estafa case as early as June 24, 1996 and submitted
it to Provincial Prosecutor Tanciongco for approval, Secretary Cuevas
took the same with a grain of salt, observing that if such were truly
the case, then respondent Tario could have readily answered the
memorandum of ACSP Mariano and the endorsements of ACSP Francisco
Santos and RSP De Leon regarding the administrative complaint against
him.
Accordingly, the Justice Secretary found respondent Tario guilty of the
graver offense of Gross Insubordination and Cross Neglect of Duty as
charged, and recommended that he be dismissed from the service.
Upon the other hand finding the evidence presented against respondent
Tanciongco for unduly delaying the administration of justice and
pressuring his subordinate (respondent Tario) to change the latter's
resolution to be insufficient to warrant the imposition of any penalty
against him, said delay being attributable solely to respondent Tario
who, in order to extricate himself from any administrative liability,
"passed on the buck" to his superior and co-respondent Provincial
Prosecutor Tanciongco, Secretary Cuevas deemed it unnecessary to warn
and admonish said respondent.
After going over the records of the case, I am in complete accord with
the findings and recommendations of the Secretary of Justice. For so
acting in the manner as he did, in open defiance and well nigh utter
disregard of the orders of his superiors, respondent Tario had
decidedly evinced a stubborn and unwieldy disposition bordering on
insolence unbefitting a public prosecutor. What is more, and worse
still, the inordinate delay in respondent's resolution of the estafa
case had unnecessarily compromised the ends of justice, almost
resulting in the mockery, if not parody, thereof. Indeed, by, his
conduct, respondent Tario has become a blot on the escutcheon of the
Justice Department.
WHEREFORE, and as recommended by the Secretary of Justice, Assistant
Provincial Prosecutor Ildefonso C. Tario of Bataan is hereby DISMISSED
from the service upon receipt of a copy hereof.
Done in the City of Manila,
this 17th day of June, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and
ninety-nine.
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