Ombudsman Samuel Martires on Friday called the attention of the National Food Administration for allowing several of its suspended officials to take a leave of absence.
Martires said he would send a formal communication to the Human Resources Division of the NFA on the matter.
A suspended official or employee must not be allowed to go on a leave while he or she is under a preventive suspension, the Ombudsman stressed.
On Thursday, Martires personally went to the NFA main office in Quezon City to serve a subpoena against 139 NFA officials amid the investigation into the selling of rice to favored private traders without a public bidding.
Those placed under a six-month preventive suspension without pay were Administrator Roderico Bioco, Assistant Administrator for Operations John Robert Hermano, 12 regional managers, 27 branch managers, and 98 warehouse supervisors nationwide.
Martires even requested from the NFA a list of involved warehouses.
The officials in question “could not take a leave during the period of preventive suspension,” he insisted.
Martires said he learned that an official had already filed a leave prior to the receipt of the preventive suspension.
“That cannot be. If one has secured an approved leave before one’s suspension, that leave is deemed to have been terminated upon the receipt of the preventive suspension,” he said.
“Being on a leave cannot be an excuse (why one cannot be suspended),” the Ombudsman added.
Should its investigation prove that the suspended officials are innocent and are not involved in the anomalous sale of rice buffer stock, the Ombudsman may lift their suspension, he said.
Both the central and regional offices earned the wrath of Martires for pointing their fingers at one another as to which among them was the custodian of the documents the Ombudsman was asking for.