Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Thursday, April 21, that the transfer of the Negros Occidental Provincial Planning and Development Officer (PPDO) to his office had the approval of the Commission on Elections, everything was legal.
Ma. Lina Sanogal, incumbent PPDO, in her April 5 complaint against Lacson and Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz, said her transfer to the Office of the Governor on March 15 was in violation of the Omnibus Election Code.
Section 261 of the Omnibus Election states that it is an election offense for any public official to transfer or detail any officer or employee in the civil service within the election period from January 9 to June 8, except upon prior approval of the Commission, Sanogal said.
Lacson said on March 15 he wrote to Regional Election Director Wilfred Jay Balisado to request for the grant of continuing authority to the Negros Occidental provincial government to transfer its officers or employees during the Comelec ban.
Balisado, in a letter to Lacson dated March 18 and received by the Capitol on April 21, granted the provincial government “exemption from the prohibition on the transfer of movement of personnel” in relation to the May 9 polls.
The Comelec regional director specifically cited the transfer of Sanogal from the PPDO to the office of the Governor to attend to special administrative concerns and Ana Marie Lucasan from the Office of the Provincial Administrator to the PPDO as officer-in-charge effective March 15.
The Comelec also approved the transfer of Jordan Pagdato from the Office of the Provincial Administrator to the Mambukal Mountain Resort and Wildlife Sanctuary.
Lacson said he usually does not answer queries on cases involving provincial government employees but was responding to the complaints of Sanogal since he was named as a respondent.
He said on Nov. 15, 2021, Sanogal wrote to him through Diaz stating that she and three other PPDO personnel were retiring from government service in 2022.
Sanogal, in the same letter, also requested for a 2022 budget allocation equivalent to their terminal leave benefits, Lacson said.
In line with the request Sanogal and Diaz had a lengthy conversation where an early transition was discussed, he added.
“In short what the province did, she knew about it because it was discussed with Atty. Diaz and there was that order reassigning her to the Office of the Governor,” Lacson said.
They were really surprised that Sanogal turned around and filed a complaint, he added.
He said Sanogal will remain assigned to the Office of the Governor.
Sanogal also filed a complaint against Lacson before the Civil Service Commission Regional Office 6 for alleged constructive dismissal.
The complaint said Sanogal has not reported to her reassigned station, the Office of the Governor, as she feels demeaned and humiliated with the whimsical act of Lacson in assigning her – a department head performing managerial and technical functions – to perform the menial task of attending to the “special administrative concerns of the office”.
Under the Omnibus Election Code prior Comelec approval for the transfer or movement of personnel is needed, Sanogal said Thursday.
The law requires that her transfer could only be implemented after the Comelec approved the Capitol’s request for exemption to do so, she said.
Sanogal said she was transferred before the Comelec reply to the Capitol’s request.
Diaz said Sanogal had indicated that she was retiring at the end of October and she was transferred to the Office of the Governor so she could prepare her papers and complete the requirements for her retirement.
It is a necessary that the PPDO is immediately headed by someone who could stay for three more years to carry out the three-year development that plan of the province that is currently being drafted, he also said.*