G.R. No. 89454 April 20, 1992
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner, vs. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION and AURORA BUIZON, respondents.

FACTS

On October 27, 1981, the President of the University of the Philippines (UP) formally charged private respondent Aurora L. Buizon, formerly Chief of the Records and Management Section, Office of the University Registrar, with dishonesty. This charge arose from a report that four students, all relatives of Buizon, had been assessed for several school years as grantees under tuition fee discount or scholarship programs when they were never recipients of such grants. On February 10, 1982, another charge for grave misconduct, acts prejudicial to the best interest of the service, and dishonesty was filed against her. This second charge involved her causing the preparation of a false certified true copy of the grades of a student relative, Fernando B. Manicad, and, based on this falsification, making possible his graduation despite not having satisfied all requirements. The two administrative charges were consolidated. UP’s Administrative and Investigation Committee found Buizon guilty and recommended a one-year suspension. The UP President concurred with the finding of guilt but modified the penalty to dismissal from office with forfeiture of all retirement and other benefits. Buizon appealed to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), which affirmed her guilt but modified the penalty to being considered resigned from service without prejudice to claiming retirement and other benefits under the law. UP’s motion for reconsideration was denied by the MSPB. UP then appealed to the Civil Service Commission (CSC), which affirmed the MSPB’s decision. UP filed this petition for certiorari.

ISSUE

Whether or not the Civil Service Commission acted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction in affirming the decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board, which considered private respondent as resigned from the service without forfeiture of her retirement and other benefits.

RULING

The Supreme Court granted the petition. It held that the Civil Service Commission acted with grave abuse of discretion in allowing Buizon to claim retirement and other benefits. The Court agreed with the UP President’s assessment that the nature, gravity, and deliberateness of Buizon’s acts, sustained over several years, which made a travesty of the University’s standards and integrity, dictated the severest penalty. Allowing her to claim benefits would be rewarding rather than punishing her. The Court cited Civil Service Commission Memorandum Circular No. 30, s. 1989, which provides that the penalty of dismissal carries with it forfeiture of retirement benefits. The Court rejected the CSC’s consideration of Buizon’s length of service and first offense as mitigating, noting she committed a series of deliberate acts over many years that struck at the integrity of the University. Her length of service was not mitigating as it was the very position and trust earned through that service which enabled her illicit acts. Furthermore, her acts constituted gross transgressions of penal laws (the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Revised Penal Code for falsification of a public document, a crime of moral turpitude). The aggravating circumstances far outweighed any mitigating factor. The Supreme Court reversed and set aside the CSC resolution and reinstated and affirmed the decision of the UP President dismissing Aurora Buizon from office with forfeiture of her retirement and other benefits.