1. PURPOSE

This Circular prescribes the guidelines in handling Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL)/Neglect of Duty offenses incurred by PNP uniformed personnel.

2. REFERENCES

a. DPRM Memorandum dated July 28, 1998 as approved by the Acting Chief, PNP on August 11, 1998;

b. Section 41 and 42 of RA No. 6975 as amended by Section 53 of RA No. 8551;

c. Memorandum Circular No. 95-017, entitled: "Prescribing Guidelines Governing the Personnel Action of Dropping from the Rolls of Officers and Non-Officers of the PNP for Incurring Absences Without Official Leave/Unauthorized Absences"-,

d. Memorandum Circular No. 96-004, entitled: "Clarifying the Service Status of PNP mem bers Who Have Been Marked on AWOL Pending Issuance of Dropping from the Rolls Order and/or Decision Suspending/Dismissing them from the service"

e. NAPOLCOM Memorandum Circular No. 94-001A which amended NAPOLCOM Memo randum Circular No. 94-001, entitled: "Identifying the PNP Officers Falling Within the Category of Equivalent Supervisors under Sec 41 (b), RA No. 6975";

f. Pursuant to paragraph 2 (e) hereof, the following aside from the Chief, PNP, are autho rized to exercise non-disciplinary and disciplinary authority over PNP personnel under their respective offices:

1) Regional Directors;
2) Directors, Administrative Support Units; and
3) Directors, Operational Support Units.

g. NAPOLCOM Memorandum CircularNo. 2007-001.

3. DEFINITION OF TERMS

a. Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL) - In general, it refers to the status of any official or employee who absents himself from work without approved leave of absence;

b. Dropped from the rolls-A non-disciplinary administrative sanction by which the name of the PNP personnel is deleted from the roster of personnel;

c. Returned to PNP Control - Refers to the status of a PNP personnel who before the issuance of an order officially dropping him from the rolls, reported back to his unit and was restored to duty status without prejudice to disciplinary proceedings that shall be taken against him.

d. Restoration to Duty - Is a mode of entry by a PNP member into the active service after suspension, serving a penalty and/or for the purpose of administrative investigation.

e. Exigency of the Service-

1) Urgent need of the service during crisis situations, such as occurrence of calamities, serious insurgency problems, strikes, etc, at the locality where respondent is assigned.

2) Urgent need of the service such as, when respondent's station is severely undermanned as to materially affect the effectiveness of the Station, taking into account the ratio of one policeman for every thousand population; or the minimum required strength of twenty one (21) PNP personnel for every municipal stations; and

3) Unique individual skill or expertise of respondent in certain area of police work, such that his continuous absence will most likely prejudice the service.

4. STATUS OF AWOL

a. AWOL as applied to the Police Commissioned Officers (PCOs) and Police Non-Officers (PNCOs) of the PNP, shall encompass but not limited to the following:

1) Absence from place of work or assignment without approved leave; or Abandonment of work or assignment without prior approval of his immediate : superior officer;

2) Failure to report for duty after expiration of approved leave of absence;

3) Failure to give notice to his immediate superior officer the fact of his inability to report for work on account of sickness or injury, or failure to file appropriate application for sick leave after his return for work, attaching the required medical certificate; and

4) Failure to report to his new assignment/unit within three (3) days from receipt of the order of reassignment or for reporting to a unit where he is not officially assigned.

5. CONCEPT

a. Dropping from the Rolls/PNP Roster of personnel - is a mode of separation which is non-disciplinary in character and does not result in the forfeiture of any benefits on the part of the officer or employee nor in disqualifying him from reemployment in the government As such, it does not require the stringent observance of due process.

b. However, while separation from the service through dropping from the rolls is not a disqualification from reappointment, as a matter of policy in the police service, it is consid ered as a derogatory record and as such, will affect his reappointment or reemployment in the PNP.

6. PROCEDURE

a. Non-Disciplinary Action

Any member of the PNP falling under any of the categories mentioned in paragraph 4 hereof, for a period of five (5) calendar days or more but not to exceed thirty (30) calendar days shall be dropped from the rolls, (DFR) after due notice, in accordance with the procedure hereunder prescribed.

As regards a member who has been on AWOL for thirty (30) calendar days or more, he shall be dropped from the rolls without prior notice. However, he shall be informed of his separation not later than five (5) days from its effectivity which shall be sent to his address appearing in his latest 201 file.

1) Immediately after the lapse of five (5) calendar days from the date the PNP personnel has been on absence without official leave in any of the categories mentioned in Paragraph 4 hereof, the immediate superi6r officer shall forthwith serve a written notice, either by registered mail or personal delivery, at the former's fast known address directing him to report/return for work due to exi gency of the service, within three (3) days from receipt of said notice, with a warning that failure or refusal to comply with the same shall be a valid ground to drop him from the rolls.

2) If after the expiration of three (3) days, the absentee PNP member fails to return for work, the immediate superior officer shall submit thru proper channel, within three (3) days, the corresponding report with the recommendation to drop him from the rolls to the proper PNP authorities.

3) Upon receipt of the official report, the PNP authority vested with jurisdiction to exercise this non-discipiinary power shall thoroughly evaluate the records, and if the recommendation is found to be meritorious, shall forthwith issue the order of dropped from the rolls.

4) That pending the issuance of a dropped from the rolls order or promulgation of a decision in an administrative case for AWOL, said PNP personnel on AWOL is still considered in the service and as such, shall be allowed to report back to duty, subject to the outcome of the administrative case.

5) The order of dropped from the rolls issued by the Chief, PNP, Regional Direc tors and those PNP officers delegated with such authority, shall be immediately executory, without prejudice to the filing of a Motion for Reconsideration or Appeal, as the case may be.

In case the Motion for Reconsideration filed by the PNP member found to be on absence without official leave is meritorious (i.e. hospitalized, in which case, the absence will be charged to his ieave credits; reassigned to other unit without his knowledge, but continuously reported for duty; or due to administrative lapse,, etc.), he shall be restored to his former position with entitlement to all the benefits and allowances he failed to receive during the period of his . absence.

6) Immediately upon the issuance of the Order of Dropped from the Rolls, the salary and other allowances of concerned PNP member shall be immediately stopped and his name stricken from the records, the period that he was on absence without official leave shall be deducted from his accumulated leave credits; and his issued firearms and other accouterments shall be recalled, . including his PNP Identification Card and Police Badge.

7) Within three (3) days from receipt of the Order of Dropped from the Rolls, the '" concerned PNP member may file a Motion for Reconsideration with the non- disciplinary authority who issued the order, which motion shall be resolved within the same period. Only one (1) motion for reconsideration shall be allowed. However, failure of the appellant to file his motion for reconsideration and/or appeal as the case may be, within the given reglementary period, shall be a cause for the denial of his motion/appeal.

8) An Order, issued by the PNP Regional Director or the PNP officers del egated to exercise such authority, denying the Motion for Reconsideration is appealable to the Chief, PNP, within three (3) days from receipt of the Order of Denial. The Order of Dropped from the Rolls issued by the Chief, PNP, shall be final and executory.

9) The non-disciplinary action shall likewise be without prejudice to the reap- pointment of the erring personnel to the PNP at the discretion of the appointing authority, provided, the appellant still possesses all the gualifications and none of the disqualifications under Section 30 of RA 6975 as amended by Section 14 of RA 8551.

However in the reappointment of a separated personnel into the PNP, the non-disciplinary authority must be guided by the case law in Madrid vs. Auditor General (108 Phil 578) where the Supreme Court held that, a person claiming right to a position in the Civil Service must institute the proper proceedings to assert his right within the period of | one year from the date of his separation, otherwise, he will be considered as having abandoned his office or even acquiesced or consented to his removal and therefore nut entitled to bring action for his reinstatement.

Likewise to be considered are Supreme Court decisions regarding laches, such as in the case of Oca vs CA, 378 SCRA 642, where the court held that, "The term laches is defined as failure or neglect for unreasonable and unexplained length of time, to do that which, by exercising due diligence could or should have been done earlier", andin Westmo Bank vs Ong, 375 SCRA 212, where the SC held, "Laches is negligence or omission t assert a right within a reasonable time, warranting a presumption that the party entitled thereto has either abandoned or declined to assert it"

b. Disciplinary Action

1) If a disciplinary action or Summary Hearing has to be undertaken against an erring personnel, the complaint should be filed while the erring personnel is still in the service or has not yet been issued a dropped from the rolls order. Once a complaint is filed, the erring personnel can no longer be dropped from the rolls.

In case dropped from the rolls order had already been issued, the disciplinary authority should no longer reinstate the erring personnel just for the purpose of acquiring jurisdiction over him/her and subsequently charging him/her with serious Neglect of Duty This would render nugatory the previous act of the non-disciplinary authority of dropping such erring personnel from the rolls. If a non-disciplinary authority must reinstate an erring personnel who was dropped from the rods, it should not be for the purpose of acquiring jurisdiction over him/her and subsequently charging him/her with Neglect of Duty. It should be because the erring personnel filed a Motion for Reconsideration (MR) or appeal to the C, PNP which is meritorious, such as, but not limited to, incarceration, where he cannot report for work, and later on found by the court to be totally innocent of the charge.

The reason for this is that a personnel dropped from the rolls ceased to be a member of the PNP and is already out of the PNP's jurisdiction. Therefore, in no case shall an erring personnel dropped from the rolls be reinstated unless he/she has filed a timely and or meritorious MR or appeal to the C, PNP.

2) However, a reinstated erring personnel, whose timely and or meritorious MR or appeal to theC, PNP was given due course, may or may not be subjected to a pre-charge evaluation for the purpose of finding out the circumstances why he went on AWOL. Elsewise, stated, while reinstating a PNP member dropped from the rolls just for the purpose of acquiring jurisdiction over such personnel from pre-charge evaluation is not allowed, subjecting an erring personnel, who was reinstated because of the merit of his MR, to pre-charge evaluation is, not only allowed, but should be the general procedure.

3) In fine, what cannot be allowed is the simultaneous recourse to the non- disciplinary mode of dropping a personnel from the rolls and disciplinary mode of charging a personnel with Serious Neglect of Duty. The first mode is separation while the second mode is dismissal. This is the import of Section 1, (d), , Rule 5 ofNAPOLCOM Memorandum Circular 2007-001 when it said: "Provided, that where dropping from the rolls is resorted to as a mode of separation from the service, the police officer can no longer be charged for Serious Neglect of Duty arising from absence without official leave (AWOL) and vice-versa".

7. POLICY

A consolidated monthly report shall be submitted on prescribed form showing the names and unit assignment of the absentee and the period of absence to include action taken against the absentee. Such monthly report shall be submitted to the Office of the Director for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM), PNP NHQ not later than 30th day of the month following the date for which the report has been submitted.

8. RESPONSIBILITY

a. Every case of absence without official leave committed by any PNP personnel shall be the direct responsibility of the immediate superior officer. Failure and/or refusal to initiate either disciplinary action against the erring personnel shall render the concerned superior officer administratively liable under the Doctrine of Command Responsibility.

b. Unit Directors or Chiefs of Offices shall disseminate this Circular up to the last member of the Unit or Office.

9. RESCISSION CLAUSE

This Circular shall amend Circular No. 98-007 issued by this Headquarters on August 11.1998.

10. EFFECTIVITY CLAUSE

This Circular shall take effect after fifteen (15) days from the filing of a copy thereof at the University of the Philippines Law Center in consonance with Sections 3 and 4 of Chapter 2, Book VII of Executive Order 292, otherwise known as "The Revised Administrative Code of 1987"as amended.

Adopted; 17 May 2008

(SGD.) AVELINO I. RAZON JR
Police Director General
Chief, PNP