THIRTEEN long years after he was wrongfully fired from his job, former Clark International Airport Corp (CIAC) senior medical support officer Albert Genghis Sudiacal stands to receive a windfall of P6.48 million representing backwages and separation pay dating back to 2011.
In a decision released yesterday, the Commission on Audit (COA) did not only uphold the P4.77 million claim against the CIAC for illegal dismissal, it added another P1.707 million as separation pay in light of the fact that Sudiacal can no longer get his old job back despite an order of reinstatement.
“Considering the impossibility of Mr. Sudiacal’s reinstatement due to the abolition of his position, this Commission agrees with the recomputed judgment award granting Mr. Sudiacal both separation pay and backwages,” the COA en Banc said.
The seven-page ruling was signed by COA chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba and Commissioners Roland Café Pondoc and Mario G. Lipana.
Records showed Sudiacal was removed from his post on June 14, 2011, prompting him to file a case for illegal dismissal before the national Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) — Regional Arbitration Branch 3 (RAB 3).
On July 13, 2015, the labor arbiter ruled in his favor and ordered his reinstatement without loss of seniority rights and benefits, as well as payment of backwages computed from the time he was dismissed until the RAB 3 ruling becomes final.
However, the CIAC chose to challenge the ruling, resulting in its reversal by the NLRC Third Division on September 30, 2015 which held that the termination was valid.
Sudiacal elevated the matter to the Court of Appeals where he won on March 21, 2019.
A petition for review filed by CIAC with the Supreme Court was dismissed on January 27, 2020 on the ground that the CA did not commit any reversible error in ruling in favor of Sudiacal.
The dismissed official filed his claim before the COA on May 19, 2021 for payment of wages of P42,000 per month from June 14, 2011 to December 2, 2024 in the sum of P4,771,200.
But upon learning that the order of reinstatement can no longer be implemented with the abolition of Sudiacal’s previous position, the COA said he has become entitled to separation pay of P1.05 million and reinstatement wages of P656,880.
“Separation pay is equivalent to one month salary for every year of service from the date of his employment up to the finality of the NLRC’s decision, while the backwages is computed from June 14, 2011, the time of Mr. Sudiacal’s dismissal, until March 22, 2022, the finality of the NLRC’s decision ordering separation pay,” the Commission said.
