Graft court on Elipe defense: It’s flawed

By CONG B. CORRALES
Associate Editor .

ALTHOUGH allowed in government, the Sandiganbayan saw through the “flexi-time” defense of ex-councilor President Elipe and his sister Pristine Quizon even as the anti-graft court punched holes in their legal defense, calling it “flawed.”

The “flexi-time” rule is a mechanism that allows government employees to offset or compensate for their overtime work.

Elipe and Quizon, convicted by the court for graft and public document falsification in a decision this month, had submitted a copy of the latter’s request for “flexi-time,” dated Oct. 23, 2013, before the graft court to argue that there was nothing improper in Quizon’s daily time record (DTR).

The siblings denied that there was a conspiracy to fake the DTR.

In the copy submitted, Quizon requested for “flexi-time” privileges on the dates Oct. 24 and Oct. 25, 2013, and again on Oct. 29 to Oct. 30, 2013, or a total of four days of absence.

In the same request form, Quizon claimed she rendered overtime work on:

• Sept. 7, 2013 (1-5 pm, 4 hours)
• Sept. 20 (1-5 pm, 4 hours)
• Oct. 5 (10-4 pm, 6 hours)
• Oct 12 (6-10 pm, 4 hours)
• Oct. 14 (5-8 pm, 3 hours)
• Oct. 19 (10-3 pm, 5 hours)
• Oct. 19 (6-10pm, 4 hours)
• Oct. 21 (5-8 pm, 3 hours)

But Associate Justice Reynaldo Cruz noted in the decision that the services rendered by Quizon on the dates Sept. 7, Sept. 20, Oct. 5 and Oct. 19 were still part of her regular work hours which is from 8 am to 5 pm and could, therefore, not be considered as overtime work.

Cruz said even with the legitimate overtime work Quizon rendered on Oct. 12, Oct. 14, Oct. 19, and Oct. 21, which constitutes 14 hours of overtime work, these work hours would entitle her to only one day and six hours of “flexi-time.”

“Clearly, accused Quizon’s accumulated overtime work hours cannot cover her request for four days off,” the Sandiganbayan decision reads in part.

Based on the “flexi-time” guidelines being followed by city hall, “flexi-time” could only be availed from Tuesday to Thursday; must not fall on consecutive days; and if covering several days, may only be availed of once a week.

The “flexi-time” guidelines also stipulate that the approved request must be scheduled within a month of the date on which extra services were rendered.

The graft court also noted that there was no evidence that would establish that Quizon’s request for “flexi-time” was approved before she went on a leave of absence.

“Here, the Court observes that the copy of accused Quizon’s approved request for flexi-time was not adduced in evidence despite the certification dated 25 January, issued by Vice Mayor Caesar Ian Acenas, attesting that his office had on file such request and that the same was duly approved,” Cruz noted.

The graft court ruled that the certification of Acenas could not stand as evidence of approval of the request since the best available evidence is the copy of the approved request.

“The records show that accused Quizon did not render enough overtime work to cover the period she requested. But, instead of disapproving her request, accused Elipe approved the same, and later, certified the truthfulness and correctness of the entries accused Quizon made in her DTR for the period of 16-30 October 2013,” the ruling reads in part.

By certifying the entries of Quizon’s DTR, the graft court added, the then councilor Elipe acted in bad faith.

“The falsity of the DTR entries prepared by both accused has been proven beyond reasonable doubt, as accused Quizon was admittedly out of the country and could not have rendered work on the said dates indicated therein,” Cruz ruled.

The Elipe siblings were sentenced to a serve a maximum imprisonment sentence of 18 years and one day each for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and for falsification of a public document under paragraph 4 of Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code. They were also barred from holding public office for life and slapped with a P5-thousand fine by the anti-graft court.

The amount involved was only less than P2 thousand.