Civil Service Commission charges university with indirect contempt

MANILA, Philippines - The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has formally charged the board of regents of the Technological University of the Philippines with indirect contempt for refusing to execute an order suspending its president, who is facing a sexual harassment case.

In a resolution dated March 25, the CSC issued a formal charge against the board, describing the board’s refusal to effect the preventive suspension of Godofredo Gallega as “unjustified.”

The CSC mentioned that the Court of Appeals, where a petition for review of the CSC decision is pending, has not issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the implementation of the CSC order.

The CSC ordered the board to submit its answer under oath within 10 days of receiving the CSC resolution. The CSC’s Office for Legal Affairs will conduct the investigation of the case.

Last Dec. 15, 2008, the CSC ordered the TUP board to place Gallega under a 90-day suspension while the commission investigates the sexual harassment charge filed against him by an assistant professor working in the same university. The CSC declined to release details of the case while the investigation is pending.

The school board filed a motion for reconsideration that the CSC denied in a Feb. 17 resolution.

However, the board issued a resolution last March 4 approving the deferment of Gallega’s preventive suspension, based on a legal opinion given by a Commission on Higher Education consultant.

The board said the deferment was “an act of courtesy to the Court of Appeals,” which has yet to render a decision on Gallega’s petition for the issuance of a TRO and a writ of preliminary injunction. – Reinir Padua