Terminated Zamboanga del Norte employee fights back

 

DIPOLOG CITY, Philippines – Alex Barrera and his family arrived in this city more than a decade ago with high hopes. They had left their home war-torn Siasi, Sulu, and he had found a job with a non-governmental organization working with the Subanen and Kalibugan tribes in Zamboanga del Norte.

He thought he was starting yet another promising chapter in his life in February 2013, when he was hired as Administrative Assistant II for the Zamboanga del Norte Vice Governor’s Office.

But only 4 months later, with the change of administration after the elections, Barrera became a victim of what he believes is something as lethal as the peace and order problem in Siasi: political vendetta.

“I was terminated by the present administration because I was hired by the past administration,” said Barrera, 46.

“Here I’m confronted with a different but equally harmful problem that I saw in Siasi. The only difference was that in my past home, people die immediately when hit by bullets, here they are killing me softly by taking away my employment.”

Barrera disputed his termination – which he said was illegal – and fought it out alone in the past two years. He has brought his case to the provincial, regional, and national offices of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

In all the 3 offices, the CSC decided in favor of Barrera. On March 12, 2015, he received a letter from Zamboanga del Norte Vice Governor Senen O. Angeles reinstating him to his previous job pending appeal before the Court of Appeals.  

“This is just the first base, the battle is not over,” Barrera stressed. “I will still file a case for damages against Governor [Roberto] Uy and Angeles, and to give encouragement those who were appointed by the previous administration but terminated by the present administration.”

Termination order

On July 15, 2013, two months after assuming office, Governor Uy created the Personnel Review Committee (PERC), with the specific task of reviewing the appointments and promotions made by former Governor Rolando Yebes and former Vice Governor Francis Olvis.

PERC said Barrera’s conduct during his probationary period was unsatisfactory, leading to his termination.

Barrera, however, challenged Angeles’ termination order, saying the PERC was a duplication of the CSC and that it did not follow the rules set by the commission on employees under probationary period.

Last February 16, CSC commissioners Robert Martinez and Nieves Osorio promulgated Resolution 15-00203, ordering Angeles to reinstate Barrera lest he be cited in indirect contempt.

The almost 200 other appointees and regular employees promoted by the previous provincial administration were also affirmed by the CSC. To date, however, not a single one of them has been reinstated.

Life’s equation

Despite having to challenge Angeles, who is allied with the ruling Liberal Party, Barrera fought alone for his employment.

“I cannot pay for the services of a lawyer so I started to read and study laws related to my case and represented myself before the CSC,” he said.

He said it was not easy because he has limited money and the “legal battle” was protracted.

But he went on. “My employment forms part of my life’s simple equation. Taking my employment away means taking away my life, and my life means my children’s education, our house rentals, our electric bills, our water bills and most of all the food that we – me, my wife, and 7 children – eat every day to survive,” Barrera told Rappler.

He thought he found the ideal place in Zamboanga del Norte for his children.

“We left Siasi because I didn’t want my children to grow up there. Almost all of the people there have guns. When you have money, you have to spend half of it to buy bullets. That’s how we survive,” said the mestizo-Tausug Barrera.

Surviving

At one point Barrera decided that his children should not grow in Siasi and should have education.

But with his employment termination in the past two years, two of Barrera’s children had to quit school.

While jobless, Barrera said he gets money from writing wedding invitations and graduation programs, or serves as liaison to Subanen  and Kalibugan friends he worked with before.

His wife, meanwhile, plants vegetables in all available space around their house.

Asked how he survived the past two years, Barrera said: “I don’t know, really. I’m just too busy to survive each day that I could not even have the time to think how I survive.” – Rappler.com