ANGELES CITY – The Office of the Ombudsman for Luzon has dismissed from office an officer of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) stationed at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and recommended the filing of a criminal case against him in a twin resolution on September 10, 2012 but copies of the documents were only obtained by Punto! on Monday.
Rey Roberto Y. Manalili, revenue district officer, Revenue District Office 19 at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone (SBFZ) was found guilty of “Grave Misconduct” and meted the penalty of dismissal from the service with all the accessory penalties in relation to Section 25 of RA 6770.
A corresponding criminal case for “Acts of Lasciviousness” and violation of RA 7877 was also recommended to be filed in court against Manalili by Gerard A. Mosquera, Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon upon the recommendation of Margie G. Fernandez-Calpatura as per the investigation conducted by Maria Fatima P. Pepinas-Neri.
In her complaint, Revenue Officer 1 Leilani R. Arellano of Palihan, Hermosa, Bataan said on October 13, 2009, at around 5:30 p.m., she met with Manalili at the parking lot beside a duty free shop at the SBFZ to get a folder for a tax case which she was handling.
Arellano informed Manalili that she would proceed to the office to prepare the needed report for the tax case.
Manalili volunteered to accompany her and immediately occupied the passenger seat of her car. But Arellano said she informed Manalili that she could take care of herself and waited for the latter to get out from her car before getting into it.
After about an hour in the office, Arellano said she was surprised to see Manalili go back to the office and even joined her in eating dinner while watching news on TV. At one point during dinner, Arellano said Manalili asked her if she was still a virgin. As she felt offended by his question, instead of answering, she advised Manalili not to ask such questions from any woman.
Feeling uncomfortable because of the inappropriate question, Arellano said she immediately finished her dinner and wrap up her work to go home. She collected her things and stood up to throw the food wrappers.
But while standing near the trash can, Manalili allegedly embraced her from behind and tried to touch her breasts. She said she also clearly felt him rub his private part on her. Feeling astonished, Arellano said she walked away from Manalili while yelling at him the words:
“Why did you do that sir?” before he hurriedly left the office. Arellano said because of the incident, she felt violated and suffered serious anxiety. She said she also could not sleep which affected her work at the BIR.
Arellano said she narrated her ordeal to her officemate Grace Agaton right after the incident and to her aunt Yolanda Reyes. Arellano also said when she reported for work on December 3, 2009, she asked her younger brother Glen R. Arellano and Reyes to accompany her to the office as she was still fearful of Manalili.
Arellano said instead of showing remorse, Manalili continued to harass her by becoming a fault finder in relation to her job which compelled her to ask for a transfer. A Medical Certificate on September 29, 2010 issued by Dr. Jose Rommel T. Soriano corroborated Arellano’s claim that her ordeal caused her “trauma and acute stress disorder.”
In his counter affidavit, Manalili denied all the charges. But the Ombudsman said the mere fact that Manalili followed Arellano to the office knowing she would be alone there, as it was already past office hours, and despite the fact that he had no work to do there, his insistence to accompany her to the office, his question regarding her virginity, and his malicious act of embracing her from behind and rubbing his private part on her “clearly showed his lewd and lustful intent which was only nipped in the bud by her strong resistance.”
