Retired teacher fined for dishonesty

CEBU, Philippines - A former teacher of the Ramon Duterte Memorial High School in barangay Guadalupe has been found guilty of simple dishonesty for habitual tardiness and falsification of official documents and was ordered suspended for three months without pay.

But because Adelfa Salvador was already retired from government service, DepEd-7 Regional Director Recaredo Borgonia said the amount equivalent to three months’ worth of her salary will be deducted from her retirement benefits.

The DepEd official has sent copies of the decision of the case to the branch manager of the Government Service Insurance System in Cebu City so that the order can be implemented once Salvador will claim her benefits.

Salvador has not been able to claim her benefits because of her pending case before the Department of Education.

The records showed that Salvador committed tardiness for nine days in June 2010, then 17 days in July, 19 days in August, 15 days in September and 14 days in October of the same year.

It was also alleged that Salvador falsified her Daily Time Record to show that she never incurred the number of days of tardiness. She has denied this but her denial was not given due course by the investigators.

Borgonia said the long years of good government service of Salvador for more than 20 years had been given weight by the investigator that is why they only recommended a lower penalty for her.

“During all these years she had served with utmost dedication and maintained an unblemished record. She had been very punctual in reporting to her work,” Borgonia said. – (FREEMAN)