Administrative Order No. 266




MALACAÑAN PALACE MANILA BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES [ ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 266, December 29, 1953 ] DISMISSING MR. BENIGNO A. PIDLAOAN FROM THE SERVICE AS FOREIGN AFFAIRS OFFICER, CLASS I, WITH PREJUDICE TO REINSTATEMENT AND REQUIRING HIM TO REFUND ALL AMOUNTS DISALLOWED FROM HIS OFFICIAL ACCOUNTS This is an administrative case against Mr. Benigno A. Pidlaoan, Foreign Affairs Officer, Class I, formerly assigned as Consul General in San Francisco, California, for (1) unsatisfactory performance of official duty on five counts, (2) misconduct on seven counts, and (3) malfeasance in office on three counts. The charges were investigated by Minister Emilio Abello, and the respondent was given full opportunity to defend himself. After the termination of the investigation, the record of the case was submitted to the Board of the Foreign Service for consideration. Said Board finds the respondent guilty of (1) unsatisfactory performance of official duty on four counts, of (2) misconduct on six counts, and of (3) malfeasance in office on two counts, and recommends that he be dismissed from the service, with prejudice to reinstatement; that he be required to refund immediately to the Department of Foreign Affairs all amounts disallowed from his official accounts; and that the papers in connection with the charge of malfeasance in office be referred to the Department of Justice for such criminal action as may be warranted. The Secretary of Foreign Affairs concurs in said findings and recommendations. The following facts have been established: 1. Unsatisfactory Performance of Official Duty (a) That in the case of Mr. Juan Ruiz, laid-off employee of the Philippine Consulate General at San Francisco, the respondent ordered the issuance by the Consulate of a check for $3,300 to cover the expenses for the return transportation of Mr. Ruiz and family; and after establishing a credit for the aforesaid amount with the Lerios Travel Agency, he Ordered payment against said credit of transportation expenses for Miss Betty Salindong, his sister-in-law, and for Attorneys Javier and Almeda. (b) That he personally promoted the organization of the National Association for the protection and advancement of Filipinos in America, for the protection of gamblers, thereby giving encouragement to gambling among the Filipinos in his consular district. (c) That during the years 1951-1952, he made numerous trips out of San Francisco for purely personal reasons totally unconnected with the proper and efficient discharge of his functions; and if some of these trips had official color, they constituted a wasteful expenditure of public funds as most of them were unnecessary and were in derogation of the authority and hurt the prestige of the consular officer of the area visited. (d) That in violation of the law and of the rules and regulations of the General Auditing Office and the Department of Foreign Affairs, he authorized payments and/or authorized expenditures in excess of the appropriation for his office; and likewise the ordered and/or authorized payments out of public funds for purely personal purposes, like telephone charges for calls made to, or collect calls from, Mariba Aba, Hungarian ballerina, and for flowers wired to her. 2. Misconduct (a) That being a married man, with evident misrepresentation of his civil status, with utter disregard of the norms of conduct which should guide an officer in the Foreign Service, and with public scandal, he had improper relations in 1952 with Marika Aba. (b) That under the circumstances mentioned in the preceding item, he had intimate relations with a married woman.£A⩊phi£ (c) That under the circumstances narrated in item 2(a), and taking advantage of his official position, he behaved, in relation to one Ludmila Mihailova, in a manner unbecoming of a Consul General. (d) That in violation of Foreign Service regulations and in disregard of the norm of conduct which should guide a foreign service officer, he borrowed money from Mr. and Mrs. Ernesto Reyes, Mr. and Mrs. Clemente C. Morales, and Mr. and Mrs. Marcelo E, Galicia, and neglected to pay these loans on due date or within a reasonable time thereafter. (e) That he unreasonably delayed the payment to Mr. and Mrs. Ernesto Reyes of a loan of $800, thereby causing them undue hardships and great mental anguish and compelling them to file a complaint against them, with a writ attachment of his properties; and, in violation of the regulations of the Foreign Service, he failed to report to the Department of Foreign Affairs the pendency of said action against him. (f) That he committed improper conduct in that he bought automobiles on credit and got his friends to advance their prices, thereby risking the name of the Philippine Consul General in San Francisco because failure on his; part to make good his commitments in the transactions would give him a bad credit rating and possibly involve him in a lawsuit. 3. Malfeasance in Office (a) That after Mr. Dick Salindo, Administrator of the estate of Antonio Pasco, had deposited in trust with the Philippine Consulate General a check, payable to the latter, for the sum of $4,445.35, he ordered and permitted the encashment of this check and he appropriated the proceeds thereof to his own personal use; and when upon his failure to pay the aforesaid proceeds to the rightful parties, a complaint was filed against him with a writ of attachment of his properties, he failed, in violation of the regulations of the Foreign Service, to report to the Department of Foreign Affairs regarding the pendency of said action against him. That in violation of the law and without prior approval of competent authority, he ordered the cashier of the Philippine Consulate General at San Francisco to give him a cash advance of $2,000 on March 2, 1953, and another of $4,000 on March 6, 1953. I agree with the findings and recommendations of the Board of the Foreign Service, as concurred in by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Wherefore, Mr. Benigno A. Pidlaoan is hereby dismissed from the service as Foreign Affairs Officer, Class I, with prejudice to reinstatement, and required to refund immediately to the Department of Foreign Affairs all amounts disallowed from his official account. Done in the City of Manila, this 29th day of December, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty-three, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the eighth. (Sgd.) ELPIDIO QUIRINO President of the Philippines By the President: (Sgd.) MARCIANO ROQUE Acting Executive Secretary The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation