A POLICE superintendent (now lieutenant colonel) ordered dismissed by the PNP chief in 2015 for grave misconduct has lost out on a P3.18 million windfall after the Commission on Audit denied his claim for lack of merit.
In a decision released yesterday, the COA Commission Proper said that former Supt. Joselito Sta. Teresa is not entitled to receive even a penny out of his retirement benefits that would have amounted to P3,184,173.94 after he was found guilty of an administrative offense in relation to falsification of public documents and grave abuse of authority.
“The decision of the Chief of PNP, holding P/Supt. Sta. Teresa guilty of grave misconduct and imposing the penalty of dismissal from the service with the accessory penalty of forfeiture of retirement benefits, still stands. As such, (he) is not entitled to the retirement benefits being claimed,” the commission declared.
Records showed the claimant was one of eight police officers charged for grave misconduct for alleged forgery of signatures of other PNP personnel in relation to a petition filed with a regional trial court.
Before the administrative case was resolved, Sta. Teresa filed for optional retirement which was approved by the National Police Commission on November 14, 2014.
However, the Napolcom made it clear that his retirement was without prejudice to the outcome of the administrative proceedings and that, waiting final disposition, his retirement benefits would not be released to him.
In a ruling dated November 23, 2015, the Chief PNP found all eight respondents guilty of grave misconduct and ordered their dismissal from the service. Sta. Teresa appealed but the Napolcom-National Appellate Board (NAB) affirmed their dismissal.
In 2018, Sta. Teresa filed a complaint before the Civil Service Commission against the PNP Retirement Benefits Administration Service for alleged refusal to release his retirement benefits but this was thrown out. Still, the CSC said his retirement benefits should be released “absent any justifiable reason to hold the same.”
On May 30, 2020, the Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) dismissed Sta. Teresa’s appeal to the Napolcom NAB ruling.
“P/Supt. Sta. Teresa was found guilty of grave misconduct and was dismissed from the service. Grave misconduct is a grave offense which warrants the ultimate penalty of dismissal from service with the accessory penalties of cancellation of eligibility, perpetual disqualification from public office, bar from taking civil service examinations, and forfeiture of retirement benefits,” the COA pointed out.
