Two weeks ago, on April 22, 2026, Governor Patrick Alain T. Azanza quietly designated Supervising Administrative Officer Remelito S. Cabrera as officer-in-charge of the Provincial Human Resource and Development Office (PHRMDO).
We say “quietly” because there not a mention of the designation in the official social media page of the provincial government despite posting more mundane things as the birthday celebration of any key Capitol official.
Outside the main building of the Capitol compound, nobody else knew of the change in leadership at the personnel office where Atty. Alyssa Anne D. Sanchez used to sit as department head.
The office order signed by the governor stated that the designation was made “in the interest of the service” and Cabrera will remain as OIC “until a Provincial Government Department Head (Provincial Human Resource Management Officer) is duly appointed.”
Why Gov. Azanza changed his tack of repeatedly appointing Atty. Sanchez as PHRMO head, for about seven times, despite the Sangguniang Panlalawigan’s nonconcurrence with her appointment and that of Provincial General Services Officer Senen S. Razal was brought to light just last week.
The Tribune secured a copy of the Civil Service Commission’s reply to a query from Vice Governor Robert A. Fernandez seeking the guidance of the regional office on the proper action to take with the governor’s repeated appointments of the two officials in spite of the SP’s rejection each time their appointments were issued, over Sanchez’s lack of qualifications and Razal’s involvement in alleged extortion of a taxpayer in his Pandan posting.
CSC Bicol Director IV Atty. Daisy Punzalan Bragais emphasized that knowingly and repeatedly issuing appointments to unqualified appointees may constitute an administrative and criminal offense, as enunciated in Article 244 of the Revised Penal Code, with the erring public officer to suffer the penalty of arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos.
Further, Dir. Bragais cited a Supreme Court ruling in Montero v. Office of the Ombudsman where the High Court sided with the Ombudsman in finding probable cause against a public official for violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
The public official was found to have acted with partiality and evident bad faith when she appointed several former candidates to government positions despite the one-year prohibition.
The SC ruled that the public official gave the appointees unwarranted benefits and that undue injury was caused to the government by the amount of the salary they received.
As to the status of the repeated appointments by Azanza, the CSC stressed that in local government units, “the effectivity date of the appointment date of the signing of the appointing officer or authority ends the moment the local sanggunian rejects or disapproves it” and the same requires no further action from the CSC regional or field offices.
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan, and Vice Gov. Fernandez in particular, deserves the public’s gratitude for insisting on their duty to approve or reject any appointee of the provincial governor based on their evaluation of their qualifications even if the Personnel Selection Board has already found them worthy of appointment.
As of press time, only Atty. Sanchez has been replaced in her post, with Razal still acting as PGSO head and chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).
This means the issue remains open for discussion at the provincial board, which could likely look into the unwarranted benefits enjoyed by the two appointees and calculate the undue injury caused by their repeated appointments to the provincial government.
In the same vein, the board may explore the possibility of filing charges against Gov. Azanza for violation of RA 3019, for which he could be sentenced to imprisonment ranging from one month and one day to six months, and a fine of P1,000.
The penalty may be short and cheap, so to say, but considering the stinging rebuke they got earlier from DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla, “lintik lang ang walang ganti” as the ordinary kanto boy would say.