The PNP Courtesy Resignation Hullabaloo

Last December 2022, there was a call from the Secretary of Interior and Local Government for police colonels and generals to tender their courtesy resignation. The avowed purpose was to hasten the cleansing of the PNP ranks form officers involved in illegal drugs. At that time, the most prominent news was the botched anti-drug operation involving about a ton of shabu.

The PNP Leadership echoed the request as it issued a memorandum appealing to these colonels and generals to tender their courtesy resignations. Attached to it was a resignation template to be followed. While it was made to appear that the courtesy resignations would be voluntary, it cannot be denied that when it is the Secretary of the DILG and the Chief PNP making the appeal, it carries a coercive pressure upon the lower ranks. Also, a deadline to submit was set.

Fast forward to the President’s State of the Nation Address on July 24, 2023 where he declared that he has accepted the courtesy resignations of some PNP Officers. And just a few days later, a list emerged naming those officers and in the first week of August, their Resignations Orders were issued, immediately cutting them from the service.

Wow! But here lies the problem.

The President may not have been informed that the so-called “courtesy resignations” were not resignations at all. A case in point is quoted hereunder:

“I hereby submit myself to assessment and evaluation by the 5-man committee in relation to the issue on the alleged involvement of PNP personnel in illegal drug activities and tender my courtesy resignation, acceptable upon the finding of my involvement in illegal drug activities by substantial evidence, consistent with the rules on due process and our Constitution. These represents my commitment and cooperation with the present internal cleansing program of the PNP.”

This is definitely not a resignation. Here, the writer only submitted himself to an evaluation that must be consistent with due process rules and he made his resignation acceptable only upon being linked to illegal drugs based on substantial evidence. This is nothing short of saying that he may be investigated but he must be accorded the opportunity to defend himself.

Besides, In Ortiz v. COMELEC, G.R. No. 78957, 28 June 1988, the Supreme Court made it clear that “a courtesy resignation cannot properly be interpreted as resignation in the legal sense for it is not necessarily a reflection of a public official's intention to surrender his position.”

Worse, although these officers are presidential appointees, they fall under the category of career service executives who, in MC No. 20, s16, of the Civil Service Commission, are exempt from the implementation of courtesy resignations, as:

“All other officers appointed by the President whose employment are characterized by: 1) entrance based on merit and fitness to be determined as far as practicable by competitive examination, or based on highly technical qualifications; 2) opportunity for advancement for higher career positions; and 3) security of tenure."

The NAPOLCOM in Resolution No. 2006-082 created as requirement for third level officers (colonels and above) of the PNP, the Police Executive Service Eligibility (PESE), attested by the Civil Service Commission, as an equivalent to the then existing requirement that third level officers should have a Career Service executive Eligibility (CSEE) or a Career Executive Service (CES). Thus, not only are they exempt from courtesy resignations, they enjoy security of tenure. They can only be dismissed or suspended for cause, with due regard to their right of due process.

The act of compelling the officers to tender courtesy resignations and the President’s acceptance sought to circumvent the safeguards of substantive and procedural due process as it effects an unjust termination under the guise of a voluntary resignation. So, something must immediately be done by the Office of the President and the PNP Chief to rectify this injustice, regardless of the ensuing embarrassment over this fiasco. CESB Resolution 549, item 7 provides the relief that these officers are entitled to:

“7. A finding that a resignation was, in fact, a 'courtesy resignation' shall entitle the affected employee to reinstatement in the service, without loss of seniority rights, and the payment of back salaries and other benefits accruing to him/her from the time of his/her 'courtesy resignation' to his/her actual reinstatement"

The seat of power will emerge stronger if it can “man up” and accept its mistake. There is simply no other way if we want to show that we are under the rule of law.

Elnar Lape Lastimoso & Associates - Law Firm Cebu | Cebu Lawyers

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