GR 225669; (March, 2022) (Digest)
G.R. No. 225669 , March 23, 2022
OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN, PETITIONER, VS. LILAH YMBONG RODAS, RESPONDENT.
FACTS
Respondent Lilah Ymbong Rodas, Engineer II at MARINA Regional Office No. 7, was administratively charged based on an anonymous letter alleging she acquired assets disproportionate to her income. An investigation of her SALNs for 1999-2003 revealed she failed to declare her savings. Her defense was that the omissions were inadvertent mistakes, and that her wealth was legally acquired from 19 years of private sector employment prior to MARINA, two retirement/separation benefits, inheritance from her father and uncle, and her husband’s intermittent projects as a self-employed mechanical engineer. The Ombudsman found her guilty of Serious Dishonesty for willful concealment and imposed the penalty of dismissal. The Court of Appeals reversed, finding her guilty only of Simple Negligence, as she had explained the source of her wealth, and modified the penalty to one-year suspension without pay.
ISSUE
Whether the Court of Appeals correctly found respondent guilty only of Simple Negligence and not Serious Dishonesty for her failure to declare her savings in her SALNs.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated the Ombudsman’s finding of Serious Dishonesty. The Court held that dishonesty is characterized by a willful intent to deceive, and respondent’s repeated failure over five years to declare her substantial savings, which were crucial to explaining the increase in her net worth, constituted a conscious and deliberate omission. Her claim of inadvertence was belied by the pattern of non-disclosure. The offense is Serious Dishonesty due to the presence of the aggravating circumstances of being committed several times and causing undue injury to the government by misleading it about her true financial status. However, considering her death during the pendency of the case, the penalty of dismissal can no longer be imposed, but the administrative liability and the accessory penalties of forfeiture of retirement benefits (except accrued leave credits) and perpetual disqualification from re-employment in government service remain.