- Petitioner
- Office of the Ombudsman
- Respondent
- Rolando B. Faller
- Citation
- G.R. No. 215994
- Court
- From Office of the Ombudsman to Court of Appeals (CA) to Supreme Court (SC)
- Division
- First Division
- Ponente
- Perlas-Bernabe, J.
- Decided
- June 6, 2016
Summary
The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' finding that OGCC official Rolando Faller was guilty of simple misconduct and conduct prejudicial to service, not grave misconduct. Faller received P180,000 as attorney's fees and P30,000 for reading materials from GSIS foreclosure project special assessment fees without proper documentation and procedures. The Court distinguished between simple and grave misconduct, finding no corruption or willful intent to violate law. While the attorney's fees were improperly distributed since the project was extrajudicial rather than litigious, and procurement procedures were violated, these infractions lacked the corruption element needed for grave misconduct. Faller was suspended for one year with disqualification from promotion and ordered to restitute P180,000, representing only the attorney's fees portion since reading materials were actually purchased and existed in OGCC premises.