217. Office of the Court Administrator v.

Librado
A.M. No. P-94-1089/22 August 1996/En Banc/Administrative Case against a court employee
Office of the Court Administrator - Complainant
Vicente Librado - Respondent
Per Curiam Decision, Digest by Al Mohammadsali

Short Version: A sheriff was charged and convicted of “drug-pushing” and meted a sentence of 6 years.
The OCA filed an administrative case against him. He applied for probation, which was approved. He now
asks for leniency in the administrative case (he admits his conviction). The SC dismisses him from the
service. The crime of drug-pushing involves moral turpitude. Under CSC rules, he must be dismissed. The
SC also does not see him fit to serve in the judiciary. Probation, unlike pardon, does not eliminate criminal
responsibility.

Facts:
Librado was a sheriff of an MTCC in Iligan City. He was arrested for selling drugs (shabu and marijuana).
He was later charged for violation of R.A. 6425 (the old drugs law). The OCA then instituted an
administrative case against him. He was later convicted of the charge and sentenced to 6 years
imprisonment. He applied for probation, which was approved.

In the administrative case, the investigating judge recommended a penalty lower than dismissal, in view of
the probation of the respondent-convict and to “to provide him with the incentive and the will to rehabilitate
himself and apply his time to his work as a judicial employee.” The case is now before the SC for decision.

Issue: WON Librado must be dismissed from the service? Yes.

Ruling: Librado dismissed from the service, with forfeiture of all leave credits and retirement benefits
and with disqualification for reemployment in the national and local governments, as well as in any
governmental instrumentality or agency, including GOCCs.

Ratio:
This case involves a conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude as a ground for disciplinary action
under the Civil Service Law. Under the rules of the CSC, conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude is
considered a grave offense punishable, upon first commission, by dismissal. It alone suffices as a ground
for the dismissal of a civil service employee.

Drug-pushing, as a crime, has been variously condemned as “an especially vicious crime,” “one of the most
pernicious evils that has ever crept into our society.” For those who become addicted to it “not only slide
into the ranks of the living dead, what is worse, they become a grave menace to the safety of law-abiding
members of society,” while “peddlers of drugs are actually agents of destruction.

The image of the judiciary is tarnished by conduct which involves moral turpitude. While indeed the
purpose of the Probation Law (P.D. No. 968, as amended) is to save valuable human material, it must not
be forgotten that unlike pardon probation does not obliterate the crime of which the person under probation
has been convicted. The reform and rehabilitation of the probationer cannot justify his retention in the
government service. He may seek to reenter government service, but only after he has shown that he is fit
to serve once again.

Voting: Narvasa, C.J., Padilla, Regalado, Davide, Jr., Romero, Bellosillo, Melo, Puno, Vitug, Kapunan,
Mendoza, Francisco, Hermosisima, Jr., Panganiban, and Torres, Jr., JJ., concur.