REVISED RULES OF PROCEDURE IN THE CONDUCT OF ADMINISTRATIVE INVESTIGATION IN THE DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM WHEREAS, Article XI, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines deciares that “public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must, at all times, be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives;” WHEREAS, Book IV, Chapter 2, Section 7(5) of Executive Order No. 292, otherwise known as the Administrative Code of 1987, authorizes the Secretary to “exercise disciplinary powers over officers and employees under him or her in accordance with law, including their investigation and the designation of a committee or officer to conduct such investigation’; WHEREAS, under Department Order No. 2013-22 dated 23 September 2013, tho Investigation Committee was created to exercise jurisdiction over disciplinary cases filed against Employees of the Department of Tourism (DOT); WHEREAS, Department Order No. 2014-30 (D. issued to govern the conduct of proceedings of admi Investigation Committee; 2014-30) dated 02 July 2014 was ative complaints filed before the WHEREAS, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) subsequently adopted and promulgated the 2017 Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service (2017 RACCS) on 03 July 2017 to prescribe and amend the rules concerning disciplinary and non-disciplinary proceedings in administrative cases in the Civil Service; WHEREAS, the existing rules of DOT for disciplinary cases need to be updated and revised to be consistent with the 2017 RACCS and make them more responsive to the demands for just, speedy, and inexpensive disposition of cases; WHEREAS, pursuant to Department Order No. 2019-26 dated 12 March 2019, the Investigation Committee was reconstituted; NOW, THEREFORE, the following rules of procedure are hersby issued to govern the conduct of disciplinary proceedings in the Department of Tourism: RULE! General Provisions SECTION 1. Title. These Rules shall be known as the “Revised Rules of Procedure in the Conduct of Administrative Investigation in the Department of Tourism’ (hereafter referred to as “Rules”); SECTION 2. Coverage. These Rules shall be applicable to all disciplinary administrative cases brought before the Department of Tourism Investigation Committee (DOT IC). Hl ‘The New DOT Building, 951 Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., 1200 Makati City, Philippines + PO. Box 2682 ‘Tel. Nos. (632) 459-5200 to 459-6230 + mawnitsmorefuninthephilippines.com « www: tourism.gov.phSECTION 3. Definition of Terms. The terms hereunder shall be construed as follows: a. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFENSE refers to the acts or omissions specified under the 2017 RACCS and all other applicable laws, rules, and regulations. ANSWER refers to the document filed by the Respondent containing his or her explanation or defenses to the allegation’s in the Formal Charge. CODI refers to the Committee on Decorum and Investigation of Sexual Harassment Cases tasked to receive and investigate complaints of sexual harassment, among others. COMMISSION refers to the Civil Service Commission. COMPLAINANT refers to any individual who alleges that an Employee committed an offense punishable under the Civil Service Rules and other relevant laws, rules, and regulations. DEPARTMENT refers to the Department of Tourism (DOT). DISCIPLINING AUTHORITY refers to the Secretary of the Department. EMPLOYEE refers to any person who works for the Department and occupies a regular plantilla position in either the first or second level, whose functions are not managerial in nature, EX PARTE rofers to the act or manner of conducting a proceeding where only one party is present without representation from or to other parties. FACT-FINDING COMMITTEE refers to a special body constituted by the Secretary to determine the facts relative to an allegation of an administrative offense against a third-level official not covered by these Rules, or any Employee, as may be deemed necessary under special circumstances. FORMAL CHARGE refers to the document signed by the Disciplining Authority charging the Person Complained Of with an administrative offense. FORUM-SHOPPING refers to the filing of several administrative actions or Complaints either simultaneously or successively before another agency or any tribunal having jurisdiction over the case against the same party, involving the same essential facts, circumstances, acts, causes of action or relief, and all raising substantially the same issues either pending in, or already resolved adversely by, some other tribunal or agency. HEARING OFFICER refers to the officer designated by the Secretary through a Special Order to conduct the Formal Investigation in accordance with these Rules. HUMAN RESOURCE (HR) refers to the people, including their qualifications, competencies, talents, and potentials. HR as a function pertains to management, development, and utilization of the people towards the excellent and ethical achievement of vision of the organization. HUMAN RESOURCE (HR) ACTION refers to any action denoting the movement or progress of officials and employees in the civil service which shall include appointment, promotion, transfer, reappointment, reinstatement, reemployment, 2reclassification, detail, designation, reassignment, secondment, demotion, and separation from the service. p. INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE (IC) refers to the DOT Investigation Committee authorized to investigate, hear, and decide administrative cases instituted by, or brought before it directly, against DOT Employees. q. MOTU PROPIO refers to an action taken by the Disciplining Authority on its own initiative. 1. PARTY ADVERSELY AFFECTED refers to the Respondent against whom a decision in an administrative case has been rendered or to the Disciplining Authority or prosecuting agency in an appeal from a decision reversing or modifying the original decision. s. PERSON COMPLAINED OF refers to the Employee who is the subject of a Complaint or a Show Cause Order but who is not yet issued a Formal Charge by the Disciplining Authority. t. PRIMA FACIE CASE refers to the evidence which, if unexplained or uncontradicted, is sufficient to sustain a judgment in favor of the issue it supports, but which may be contradicted by other evidence. u, RESPONDENT refers to the Employee who is issued a Formal Charge by the Disciplining Authority. v. SECRETARY refers to the Secretary of Tourism, the Disciplining Authority duly vested by law and by the 2017 RACCS with the power to suspend, dismiss, or discipline Employees in the DOT. w. SEXUAL HARASSMENT refers to an act, or a series of acts involving any unwelcome sexual advance, request or demand for a sexual favor, or other verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature, committed by a government Employee in a work-related, training or education related environment of the Person Complained Of. x. SHOW-CAUSE ORDER refers to the written document requiring an Employee to explain or justify before the Secretary or his or her duly authorized representative within a given period why no disciplinary action shall be taken against him or her. For purposes of these Rules, the following may issue a Show-Cause Order: 1. The Secretary as the Disciplining Authority; 2. Chief of Human Resource Division; or 3. Regional Directors, for Employees in the Regional Offices." y. SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE refers to such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind may accept as adequate to support a conclusion. The standard of substantial evidence is satisfied when there is reasonable ground to believe that a person is responsible for the misconduct complained of. SECTION 4. Due Process. No Employee of the Department shall be subjected to disciplinary action or otherwise suspended or separated from the service except for cause as provided by law in accordance with the requirement of due process. + Book IV, Tile 4, Chapter 5, Section 27 (4) of Executive Order No, 282, 3Due process means a reasonable opportunity for the Respondent to be heard and to submit evidence in support of his or her arguments before a decision is rendered on the case. SECTION 5. Construction of these Rules. These Rules shall be liberally construed to secure the most expeditious and least expensive determination of every proceeding before the DOT IC on its merits, consistent however, with the requirements of justice. SECTION 6. Application of the Rules of Court. In the absence of any applicable provision in these Rules, the pertinent provisions of the Supreme Court of the Philippines’ Rules of Court and Rules on Electronic Evidence may, in the interest of expeditious disposition of the cases pending before the DOT IC and whenever practicable and convenient, be applied suppletorily or by analogy. SECTION 7. Alternative Dispute Resolution. in the investigation of Administrative Cases against Employees of the Department, the Rules embodied in this Department Order will govern without prejudice to any arrangement that the parties may agree upon for the expeditious resolution of the case. Resort to alternative dispute resolution of the case, if appropriate, should be encouraged, SECTION 8. Computation of Period. In computing any period of time’prescribed by these Rules, the first day shall be excluded and the last day included unless it be a Saturday, a Sunday, a legal holiday or a special non-working day, in which case the period shall run until the end of the next working day. SECTION 9. Confidentiality. All pleadings, testimonies, reports, decisions, resolutions and other pertinent documents submitted to the DOT IC shall be treated with utmost confidentiality. RULE II Jurisdiction SECTION 10. Jurisdiction of the DOT IC. The DOT IC shall have the power to investigate, hear, and decide administrative cases instituted by or brought before it, directly, against DOT Employees in the Central Office, Regional Offices, and Foreign Offices, belonging to the first and second level positions in the career service. The decision of the Secretary shall be final and executory in case the penalty imposed is reprimand, or suspension for not more than thirty (30) days, or fine in an amount not exceeding thirty (30) days’ salary unless a Motion for Reconsideration is seasonably filed or appealed in cases where the issue raised is violation of due process. RULE Ill Complaint SECTION 11. Initiation of Proceedings. Administrative proceedings may be initiated motu propio by the Disciplining Authority or upon Complaint by any person. SECTION 12. Requisites of a Valid Complaint. Except when initiated by the Secretary or his or her authorized representative, no Complaint against a DOT Employee shall be given due course unless the same is in writing and subscribed and sworn to by the Complainant. In cases initiated by the Secretary or his or her authorized representative, @ ‘Show-Cause Order is sufficient.