The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has concurrent disciplinary jurisdiction with the Board of Regents (BOR) of a state university over the latter’s president.

Thus the Supreme Court held when it granted the petition of the CSC and reinstated its resolutions authorizing its regional office to proceed with the formal investigation of the administrative complaints against respondent Henry A. Sojor, president of the Central Visayas Polytechnic College (CVPC), now the Negros Oriental State University (NORSU).

In a 20-page decision penned by Justice Ruben T. Reyes, the Court En Banc stressed that the CSC has concurrent jurisdiction with a university’s BOR and that a case against a university official may be filed either with the state university’s BOR or directly with the CSC. Thus, the Court ruled that the CSC validly took cognizance of the administrative complaints directly filed before its regional office concerning violations of civil service rules by respondent Sojor.

Respondent Sojor contended that the university’s Board of Trustees (BOT), under RA 8292 (The Higher Education Modernization Act of 1997), was granted the sole power to remove university officials. However, the Court found that this power is not exclusive in the matter of disciplining and removing its employees and officials.

The Court noted that the CSC has been granted by the Constitution and the Administrative Code jurisdiction over all civil service positions in the government service, whether career or non-career. Respondent, who was appointed by the governing board of trustees of the university with a fixed term of office, is a non-career civil service officer. The Court also ruled that academic freedom may not be invoked in this case when there are alleged violations of civil service laws, namely nepotism, dishonesty, falsification of official documents, grave misconduct, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, against Sojor. (GR No. 168766, CSC v. Sojor, May 22, 2008)