PLLO chief charged for yearlong absence

MANILA, Philippines — Two employees of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office have filed a complaint against PLLO chief Adelino Sitoy for allegedly being absent from office for nearly a year.

Luis Biraogo and Jose Tronco, in a complaint filed with the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs under the Office of the Executive Secretary on April 4, charged Sitoy with gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct when he “did not report for work” from February 2020 until January this year.

They alleged that Sitoy’s absence from his post was “without authority from the appointing authority or his immediate superior.”

They accused Sitoy of failing to perform his duties as PLLO chief. As part of his job, he was supposed to facilitate the passage of priority measures of the President in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.

The complainants said the House passed measures on tax reform, public service and rural agricultural and fisheries development financing; amendents of the retail trade liberalization and foreign investments laws; and bills creating the departments of overseas Filipinos and disaster resiliency but these measures are pending with the Senate due to Sitoy’s “failure to… meet or confer with the senators personally or even virtually and follow up with them individually to push for the passage of pending bills, which resulted in the setback of the economic thrust of the President.”

Biraogo and Tronco also said Sitoy was seen in two videos displaying “indecent behavior” with female guests in two separate events in Cebu.

The STAR tried but failed to reach Sitoy.