Good day.
Please be informed that it is the policy of the Civil Service Commission not to render opinions or rulings on issues that may eventually be a subject of a controversy or complaint before it. This is specially so if the material facts necessary to arrive at an objective analysis of the case are incompletely presented.
Be that as it may. to guide you in your next course of action, we invite your attention to the ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of CITY GOVERNMENT OF MAKATI CITY represented herein by JEJOMAR C. BINAY in his capacity as Mayor of Makati City, petitioner, vs. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION and EUSEBIA R. GALZOTE, respondents (G.R. No. 131392, February 6, 2002), which partly provides;
"The holding of the Civil Service Commission that private respondent was on automatic leave of absence during the period of her detention must be sustained. The CSC is the constitutionally mandated central personnel agency of the Government tasked to "establish a career service and adopt measures to promote morale, efficiency, integrity, responsiveness, progressiveness and courtesy in the civil service" and "strengthen the merit and rewards system, integrate all human resources development programs for all levels and ranks, and institutionalize a management climate conducive to public accountability." Besides, the Administrative Code of 1987 further empowers the CSC to "prescribe, amend, and enforce rules and regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of the Civil Service Law and other pertinent laws," and for matters concerning leaves of absence, the Code specifically vests the CSC to ordain -
"Sec. 60. Leave of Absence. - Officers and employees in the Civil Service shall be entitled to leave of absence, with or without pay, as may be provided by law and the rules and regulations of the Civil Service Commission in the interest of the service.
"Pursuant thereto the CSC promulgated Resolution No. 91-1631 dated 27 December 1991 entitled Rules Implementing Book V of Executive Order No. 292 and Other Pertinent Civil Service Laws which it has several times amended through memorandum circulars. It devotes Rule XVI to leaves of absence. Petitioner City Government relies upon Secs. 20 and 35 to debunk the CSC ruling of an automatic leave of absence. Significantly, these provisions have been amended so that Sec. 20 of the Civil Service Rules is now Sec. 52 of Rule XVI, on Leave of Absence, of Resolution No. 91-1631 dated 27 December 1991 as amended by CSC MC No. 41, s. 1998, and Sec. 35 is now Sec. 63 as amended by CSC MC Nos. 41, s. 1998 and 14, s. 1999.
"While Sec. 20 or Sec. 52 still reads -
"Approval of vacation leave. - Leave of absence for any reason other than illness of an official or employee or of any member of his immediate family must be contingent upon the needs of the service. Hence, the grant of vacation leave shall be at the discretion of the head of department/agency,
"Sec. 35 or Sec. 63 now provides -
"Effect of absences without approved leave. - An official or an employee who is continuously absent without approved leave for at least thirty (30) working days shall be considered on absence without official leave (AWOL) and shall be separated from the service or dropped from the rolls without prior notice. He shall, however, be informed, at his address appearing on his 201 files or at his last known written address, of his separation from the service, not later than five (5) days from its effectivity x x x x
"As a general rule Secs. 20 and 52, as well as Secs. 35 and 63, require an approved leave of absence to avoid being on AWOL.33 However, these provisions cannot be interpreted as exclusive and referring only to one mode of securing the approval of a leave of absence which would require an employee to apply for it, formalities and all, before exceeding thirty (30) days of absence in order to avoid being dropped from the rolls.34 There are, after all, other means of seeking and granting an approved leave of absence, one of which is the CSC recognized rule of automatic leave of absence under specified circumstances. As the CSC states in its assailed Resolution -
"In a similar case (Cenon Vargas, CSC Resolution Nos. 94-2795 and 95-5559), the Commission said -
"When Mr. Vargas was in jail, his services were considered automatically suspended. He could not be expected to file his corresponding application for leave of absence, because whether he likes it or not he could not possibly report to work. He is considered on automatic leave of absence for the period of his detention in jail.
"Finally, Vargas had been acquitted of the criminal charges levelled against him. Since no separate administrative case was filed against him, there is no basis to separate him from the service.
"Based on the abovementioned decision, Galzote is excused from filing her leave of absence because she could not report to work. She is therefore on automatic leave of absence for the period of her detention there being no evidence to show that Galzote deliberately absented herself from work. Besides, her act of requesting the Municipal Personnel Officer for reinstatement after she was released from jail shows that she had no intention to go on AWOL."
As to your second query, we cite Section 46, Paragraph A (5) of the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service (RRACCS) which classifies as grave the offense of Conviction of a Crime Involving Moral Turpitude.
