LA Representative impeached for negligence

The USG Judiciary held a formal impeachment hearing today, January 17, at the Yuchengco Building Room 607 to process the complaint against a batch government officer on charges of gross negligence of duty.

According to the complaint filed by the Office of the Ombudsman, FOCUS2012 Legislative Assembly Representative Nina Cervero had accumulated four unexcused absences, a violation of Article IV, Section 1.7 of the USG Code of Conduct, which states that only three unexcused absences each for Regular and Special sessions in a given academic year is permissible.

A pre-hearing was conducted last December 13 which also included LA Representatives Frances Vista (FOCUS2011), AJ Dy (65^th ENG), and Bianca Tanchuling (CATCH2T16) who were also charged for gross negligence of duty. It was found, however, that they had not violated any rule on attendance. Their cases were dismissed, with the exception of Cervero.

Prior to the beginning of the hearing, questions from both sides were raised on the validity of the evidence presented by both the defense and prosecutors. One of those in question was an excuse letter for her absence on October 25 which was submitted online to the Executive Secretary.

The prosecutors stressed that the letter was not valid since the reason stated was family-related which was not applicable for a regular LA session. The defense, however, argued that the Executive Secretary had indeed approved the excuse on the same day it was sent.

Proof that a letter was indeed submitted to the secretary was requested by the prosecutor, but the defense was unable to present the said message, citing that Cervero could not open her e-mail account.

During the trial, the defense contended that her absence on October 18 should not be considered because her parents had prevented her from attending. They explained that parental authority was superior in that situation. The defense also asserted that her absence on October 25 was excused, citing that a letter was indeed made and that it was miscommunication and error on the part of the secretary.

It was later found that there was an error in the database, as confirmed by the LA Secretary Russell Cheng. He cited that there was a discrepancy in the record for the October 18 and 25 record as the two were interchanged in the input.

He stated, however, that the disputed fourth unexcused absence was recorded as ‘blank’, meaning that it was not yet deliberated as either excused or unexcused by the LA Secretaries in-charge of the session that day.

After thoroughly processing the case, the court reached a majority decision and ruled that Cervero was found guilty of gross negligence of duty.  They argued that neither side was able to verify whether the excuse letter for her absence on October 25 was truly legitimate or not, but because it was an absence nonetheless, she was unable to fulfill her duties as an LA Representative which was sufficient for her to be found guilty.

The court also ruled that she be impeached from her position, citing that suspending her from the LA would affect the decision-making process of the Assembly.