PIA brass directs staff to disclose any Ombudsman complaint

PIA brass directs staff to disclose any Ombudsman complaint

Initial survey shows nobody has pending case

QUEZON CITY, 24 May (PIA) – Not even one official or employee of the Philippine Information Agency from the 16 provinces of Southern Luzon has a pending case with the Ombudsman.

PIA Director-General Jose A. Fabia found this out in a face-to-face meeting on Wednesday with the staff of the three regions in Southern Luzon – Calabarzon, Mimaropa and Bicol -  who had their cluster meeting in Mabini town in Batangas.

A random survey conducted at the PIA central office also showed that most officials and employees have no pending case with the Ombudsman.

A recent report, allegedly coming from the Ombudsman, ranked PIA as number four among agencies with the most number of cases filed with the Ombudsman in 2011. It had 490 cases.

“This came as a total surprise to the management,”Fabia said, stressing that the agency neither has had notice of disallowances, suspensions, nor notice of charges for all audited funds by the Commission on Audit since he assumed office in 2010.

The director-general thus directed all officials and employees to disclose any pending case with the Ombudsman in the form of a memorandum containing the name of complainant, the charge, and the date the complaint was filed. Certified copies of the complaint, answer, or any document issued in connection with the complaint are to be attached.

He also directed personnel with no pending case to submit a memorandum to him stating that they have no pending case, or that they received summons relative to any pending case. “Non-disclosure of pending case is considered conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service,” he said in his May 24 memorandum.

It was gathered that PIA at present has a workforce of only about 400 from all over the country. (PIA/DOS)