G.R. No. 193531 - ELLERY MARCH G. TORRES, VS. PHILIPPINE AMUSEMENT AND GAMING CORPORATION, REPRESENTED BY ATTY. CARLOS R. BAUTISTA, JR..D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, the instant appeal of Ellery March G. Torres is hereby DENIED. Accordingly, the decision contained in a letter dated August 2, 2007 of Lizette F. Mortel, Managing Head, Human Resource and Development Department (HRDD), PAGCOR, finding him guilty of Dishonesty, Gross Misconduct, Serious Violation of Office Rules and Regulations, Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service and Loss of Trust and Confidence and imposing upon him the penalty of dismissal from the service, is hereby AFFIRMED. The penalty of dismissal carries with it the accessory penalties of forfeiture of retirement benefits, cancellation of eligibility, perpetual disqualification from reemployment in the government service, and bar from taking future Civil Service Examination. [14] In so ruling, the CSC found that the issue for resolution was whether petitioner's appeal had already prescribed which the former answered in the positive. The CSC did not give credit to petitioner's claim that he sent a facsimile transmission of his letter reconsideration within the period prescribed by the Uniform Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service. It found PAGCOR's denial of having received petitioner's letter more credible as it was supported by certifications issued by its employees. It found that a verification of one of the telephone numbers where petitioner allegedly sent his letter reconsideration disclosed that such number did not belong to the PAGCOR's Office of the Board of Directors; and that petitioner should have mentioned about the alleged facsimile transmission at the first instance when he filed his complaint and not only when respondent PAGCOR raised the issue of prescription in its Comment. Petitioner's motion for a reconsideration was denied in CSC Resolution No. 09-1105 dated July 28, 2009. Petitioner filed with the CA a petition for review under Rule 43 of the Rules of Court seeking to set aside the twin resolutions issued by the CSC. On April 22, 2010, the CA issued its assailed decision dismissing the petition for lack of merit. In dismissing the petition, the CA found that petitioner failed to adduce clear and convincing evidence that he had filed a motion for reconsideration. It found insufficient to merit consideration petitioner's claim that he had sent through a facsimile transmission a letter/reconsideration dated August 13, 2007 addressed to PAGCOR's Chairman, members of the Board of Directors and the Merit Systems Protection Board; that assuming arguendo that a letter reconsideration was indeed sent through a facsimile transmission, such facsimile transmission is inadmissible as electronic evidence under the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000; and that a review of the CSC assailed resolution revealed that the telephone numbers where petitioner claimed to be the recipient of the faxed document sent was not that of PAGCOR's Office of Board of Directors. The CA found baseless and conjectural petitioner's claim that PAGCOR can easily deny ha