Actor-turned- Quezon City councilor Roderick Paulate must be breathing a sigh of relief.
Just recently, the Court of Appeals (CA) cleared Roderick Paulate and three others of administrative charges over ghost employees in the payroll of the city council back.
READ: Roderick Paulate on ‘ghost employees’ charge: It’s not true
“In a 17-page decision, the appellate court’s Fifth Division reversed the suspension order issued by the Office of the Ombudsman in Feb 2015 against Paulate, former councilor Francisco Calalay Jr. and two staff members,” reports Edu Punay in The Philippine Star.
Aside from Paulate, the CA also cleared Calalay, Vicente Bajamunde, and Flordeliza Alvarez of the charges of falsification of official documents, serious dishonesty, grave misconduct, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
The CA pointed out that the Ombudsman failed “to prove any link between the petitioners and the alleged illegal transaction.” Moreover, Paulate and the other petitioners “were able to prove that they had no hand in the commission of the alleged irregularities.”
The 17-page CA ruling penned by Associate Justice Stephen Cruz decalred: “They may have signed and issued certifications in furtherance thereto. However, they merely relied in good faith on their subordinates. There was no substantial evidence to prove that they planned and conspired to defraud the government and benefit therefrom.”
