Brito v. Office Of The Deputy Ombudsman For Luzon

CHICO-NAZARIO, J.:

For the Court's consideration are two consolidated petitions: (1) G.R. Nos. 167335 & 167337, a Petition for Certiorari under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court, seeking to nullify and set aside the Joint Order1 dated 7 December 2004 of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon which resolved the criminal aspect of the charges against private respondents Sandy P. Padilla and Monico A. Dingal, Jr. in their favor; and (2) G.R. No. 173152, a Petition for Review on Certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court, seeking the reversal of the Court of Appeals' Resolution2 dated 18 October 2005 denying petitioner's Motion for Reconsideration of the Court of Appeals' Resolution dated 27 April 2005 which dismissed the special civil action for certiorari filed by petitioner against the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon on the ground that it was not the proper remedy to assail the joint order of the Ombudsman. Said special civil action questioned the Joint Order of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon dated 7 December 2004 insofar as it disposed of the administrative aspect of the charges against private respondents by finding them not guilty of Gross Dishonesty, Grave Misconduct and Conduct Prejudicial to the Public Interest.

It merely found them liable under Section 4(a) of Republic Act No. 67133 and imposed upon them the penalty of reprimand. These are the facts of the instant consolidated petitions. Private respondents Sandy Padilla, Engineer II, and Monico Dingal, Jr., Community Affairs Officer II, are employees of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples-Region IV (NCIP-Region IV).

NCIP is the primary agency of the government tasked to implement Republic Act No. 8371,4 otherwise known as "The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997." It is the agency authorized by the said law to issue a Certification Precondition in favor of any entity which desires to undertake operations within the ancestral domains of the indigenous peoples or whose proposed projects will affect the ancestral domains.5 Private respondents were assigned as members of a Field-Based Investigation (FBI) team. This team conducts investigations on the impact of a project on any community of indigenous peoples, to determine whether the required Certification Precondition may be properly issued to applicant companies.

In relation to the conduct of investigations by the FBI team, NCIP Administrative Order No. 3, Series of 1998, provides that the cost of actual expenses arising from investigations shall be shouldered by the applicant company, to wit: Section 4: x x x a. Requests for NCIP Certification Precondition shall be filed with the concerned NCIP Regional Office. The cost of actual expenses in the conduct of the required field-based investigation, to be undertaken by the concerned NCIP Regional Office, shall be borne by the applicant.

x x x. In the year 2001, on three separate occasions, private respondents conducted field-based investigations on proposed projects of the following companies on the following dates: Name of Company Location Date of FBI 1. Kumakata Mining Dev.

Corp. (Kumakata) Tagcawayan, Maguibway, Quezon July 18-20, 2001 2. La Concepcion Dev. Corp. (La Concepcion) Bagong Nayon, Antipolo, Rizal December 5, 2001 3.

Rio Tuba Nickel Corp (Rio Tuba) Rio Tuba, Bataraza, Palawan December 17-20, 20016 Following the termination of the investigations, private respondent Sandy Padilla, in a short handwritten note to petitioner Dr. Ulysses Brito, OIC-Regional Director of the NCIP Region IV, claimed reimbursement for his and private respondent Dingal's per diems and taxi fares for the said investigations. The handwritten note reads: Sir, We are claiming for the per diem and taxi fare only. These companies did not provide us our per diem since they are anticipating that guidelines might require them.

Thanks. Sandy Padilla7 Petitioner approved the request for reimbursement by respondents for per diem and taxi fares. Thus, on 21 December 2001, the total amount of ₱3,240.00 was granted to each of the private respondents, broken down as follows: Name of Company Amount Paid Kumakata 1,340.00/each La Concepcion 500.00/each Rio Tuba 1,400.00/each