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[A.M. No. 00-3-126-RTC. June 19, 2000]

AWOL OF JANE I. JAVIEN

SECOND DIVISION

Gentlemen:

Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of this Court dated JUN 19 2000.

A.M. No. 00-3-126-RTC (Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL) of Jane I. Javien, Court Stenographer IV, Office of the Clerk of Court, Regional Trial Court, Cagayan de Oro City.)

Jane I. Javien began incurring unauthorized absences on August 1, 1998 and has, to the present, failed to report for work.

On October 26, 1998, Clerk of Court Beverly S. Beja addressed a letter to the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) informing said office of the continued absences of Jane Javien and the failure of the latter to respond despite notice.

The OCA directed Atty. Beja to submit the Daily Time Records of Jane Javien from July 1998 up to the present (Annex D) and ordered that her salaries be withheld on November 12, 1998 (Annex E). Likewise, a warning letter dated November 25, 1998 was sent, through Executive Judge Noli Catli, directing Javien to explain her unauthorized absences in writing (Annexes F and G). On March 2, 1999, OCA sent another letter to Judge Catli requesting his recommendation whether Ms. Javien should be dropped from the service. Follow-up letters dated June 18 and July 29, 1999 were sent but remained unanswered.

To this date, Javien has neither replied to the warning letter nor has she returned to work after receipt thereof.

On February 22, 2000, the OCA addressed a memorandum to Chief Justice Davide, Jr. recommending that Javien be dropped from the rolls.

The recommendation of OCA is well taken. Section 63, Rule XVI of the Omnibus Rules on Leave of the Civil Service Commission, as amended by Resolution No. 983142, provides:

An official or an employee who is continuously absent without approved leave for at least thirty (30) calendar days shall be considered on absence without official leave (AWOL) and shall be separated from the service or dropped from the rolls without prior notice. He shall, however, be informed at his address appearing on his 201 files of his separation from the service not later than five (5) days from its effectivity.

The Court cannot over-emphasize that the conduct and behavior of everyone connected with an office charged with the dispensation of justice is circumscribed with a heavy burden of responsibility (Quiroz v. Orfila, 272 SCRA 324 [1997]). This Court cannot countenance any act or omission on the part of those involved in the administration of justice which would violate the norm of public accountability and diminish or even tend to diminish the faith of the people in the Judiciary. (Re: Teresita Sabido, 242 SCRA 432 (1995).

WHEREFORE, Jane I. Javien is DROPPED from the rolls. Let a copy of this resolution be served at the address indicated in her personal file.

SO ORDERED.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) TOMASITA B. MAGAY-DRIS

Clerk of Court

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