G.R. No. 124965 - ROMEO C. NAMUHE, VS. THE OMBUDSMAN AND OMB TASK FORCE ON PUBLICWORKS AND HIGHWAYS.

Ruling

Accordingly, this Court has no jurisdiction over petitions for review of decisions of the Office of the Ombudsman imposing administrative disciplinary sanctions. The Case Filed before us, under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court, are three Petitions for Review on Certiorari seeking the reversal of the March 28, 1994 Resolution [2] of the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB), which dismissed petitioners from government service for "acts of dishonesty, falsification of public documents, misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service." [3] Likewise challenged is the OMBs Order dated December 11, 1995, which denied petitioners Motions for Reconsideration. The Facts Petitioners Jimmie F. Tel-Equen, Rolando D. Ramirez and Rudy P. Antonio were employed at the Mountain Province Engineering District (MPED) of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Bontoc, Mountain Province. Tel-Equen was the district engineer, Ramirez the assistant district engineer, and Antonio the chief of the construction section. On the other hand, Petitioners Romulo H. Mabunga and Romeo C. Namuhe were the district engineer and construction section chief, respectively, of the Ifugao Engineering District (IED) in Lagawe, Ifugao. The petitioners were among the respondents in the Administrative Complaint, docketed as OMB-0-91-0430, filed by the OMB Task Force on Public Works and Highways. In connection with the purported public bidding held for the Bailey bridge components for use in Mainit, Mountain Province, they were charged with dishonesty, falsification of official documents, grave misconduct, gross neglect of duty, violation of office rules and regulations and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service. As earlier stated, the OMB dismissed petitioners from the government service in the first assailed Resolution promulgated on March 28, 1994, and denied reconsideration in the second challenged Order dated December 11, 1995. Hence, these three petitions [4] were directly filed before this Court under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court. [5] In its Resolution dated February 24, 1997, the Court ordered the consolidation of these cases. [6] Ruling of the Ombudsman In ordering the dismissal of herein petitioners from the government service, the OMB ruled: "x x x x x x x x x "After a circumspect evaluation of the record, it is crystal clear that there was conspiracy among the respondents, Jimmie F. Tel-Equen, Francisco Miranda, Rudy P. Antonio, Alfredo C. Apolinar, Rodolfo B. Camarillo and Felix Gasmena, Jr. to defraud the government considering the following circumstances, to wit: Firstly, there was no immediate need for the bridge components and yet, they made it appear that the same were needed; Secondly, they made it appear that on May 10, 1990, they conducted a public bidding for said materials when in truth and in fact, there was no actual bidding as shown in the investigation report of the NBI; and lastly, the individual acts of the respondents contribu