Ombud orders probe on Tejero

By LITO RULONA,
Correspondent

The Office of the Ombudsman-Mindanao has ordered Cagayan de Oro Schools Division Superintendent Elena Borcillo to conduct an immediate investigation against embattled City Central School (CCS) principal Arnold Tejero.

In his order, Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Rodolfo Elman told Borcillo to conduct an investigation and appropriate action pursuant to the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers.

Elman has already verified the complaint filed by a public school teacher before his office in September, this year.

The public school teacher is the second complainant who filed sexual harassment, grave abuse of authority, and grave misconduct charges against Tejero before the Ombudsman.

The Office of the Ombudsman has also reportedly conducted its own investigation from a private complainant –– “Trixie” the mother of a 5th grader who filed misconduct and abuse charges against Tejero.

“Administrative charges against a teacher shall be heard initially by a committee composed of the corresponding school superintendent of the division or a duly authorized representative who should at least have the rank of a division supervisor, where the teacher belongs, as chairman, a representative of the local or, in its absence, any existing provincial or national teacher’s organization and a supervisor of the division, the last two to be designated by the director of public schools,” the Ombudsman’s order reads in part.

The Ombudsman said under the law, the committee shall submit its findings and recommendations to the Director of Public Schools within 30 days from the termination of the hearings.

“However, if the school superintendent is the complainant or an interested party, all the members of the committee shall be appointed by the Secretary of Education,” the order reads.