For leaking info, Ombudsman suspends employee

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman has placed another employee under preventive suspension while being probed for serious dishonesty and grave misconduct. 

In a six-page order, the anti-graft agency’s Internal Affairs Board chaired by Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Gerard Mosquera suspended Jim Andrada, an administrative assistant V, for six months for disclosing information on pending cases and for having spurious resolutions on his office computer. 

Last January, operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation arrested process server Antonio Alibio in an entrapment for extorting money from an employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Alibio, who works in the Office of the Special Prosecutor, is also under preventive suspension and facing criminal and administrative charges. 

An ensuing investigation found that Alibio’s cell phone contained messages with information on pending cases with the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon. 

Upon verification, the sender’s mobile number was traced to Andrada who listed it as his contact number in his personal data sheet. 

After further investigation, Andrada’s office computer was found to contain fake resolutions and decisions of cases pending before the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon. 

In its order, the Ombudsman said there is an urgent need to place Andrada under preventive suspension “so that the ends of justice may not be compromised.”

It added that Andrada’s “continued presence in the workplace will allow him access to potential witnesses and evidence adverse to him, and thus compromise the integrity of the present investigation.”