The  Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the  reinstatement of Daniel Dimagiba, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) deputy director-general for operations.
Dimagiba was sacked by Director General Ruben Ciron over alleged acts of grave misconduct, including the issuance of an air carrier operating certificate to Sky Aviation Services Inc. on Aug. 1, 2008. He supposedly committed eight counts of grave misconduct and was accused of collecting $1,500 each from foreign students before signing certificates.
In a 10-page resolution the appellate court through  Associate Justice Vicente Veloso directed petitioner CAAP, its director general and all those acting of their behalf to immediately reinstate Dimagiba as deputy director-general of the agency and “to pay him full back wages and benefits as required in Civil Service Commission (CSC) Resolution No. 100749 dated April 12, 2010 and affirmed by the court’s Feb. 22, 2011 decision, computed from the date of his dismissal until his actual reinstatement.”
Dimagiba was an appointee of then President Arroyo who was later on removed by President Aquino. Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Francisco Acosta and Danton Bueser.
The agency’s motion for reconsideration dated March 12, 2011 and motion for partial reconsideration dated Aug. 24, 2011 were both denied as the court found no cogent reason to modify its decision.
The CA ordered the reinstatement of Dimagiba, affirming the two resolutions of the CSC. The CSC had found that Dimagiba was illegally dismissed and ordered his reinstatement. The ruling was affirmed by the appeals court.
During the pendency of CAAP’s petition, CSC Chairman Francisco Duque in a letter to President Aquino said the latter has the power to appoint a new deputy director-general of CAAP even if the post were not vacant. It consequently led to the appointment of one Napoleon Garcia.
The appellate court stressed that “the supposed official letter of the CSC chairman addressed to President Aquino does not, in any way, alter the strength of (the) CSC resolution(s)...”
“For a mere opinion rendered by the chairman, in his personal capacity and without the concurrence of the other members of the commission cannot modify, much less, set aside, final order and resolution of the CSC which the latter decided as a collegial body,” the CA ruling stated. “The subsequent appointment of another person to his position is not supposed to prejudice his security of tenure in the said position.”
But the CSC and the CA held that the director general’s control and supervision over all personnel of the CAAP does not include the power to discipline them.