Asst. SolGen axed for sexual misconduct

Malacañang has sacked Assistant Solicitor General Derek Puertollano following allegations of sexual misconduct, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra confirmed on Wednesday.

“Yes,” Guevarra said in response to a query about the matter.

Puertollano, a career official, was dismissed due to administrative charges brought by two male legal interns.

A 22-page decision from the Office of the President showed that Malacañang dismissed Puertollano after finding him administratively liable for sexual harassment through the following instances: unwanted touching of private body parts, unwanted touching or brushing against a victim’s body, surreptitiously peering at a person’s private part; and other similar cases.

“(The victims) were his subordinates or interns whom he exercised control and supervision as supervising ASG. He took advantage of his position and, instead of acting in loco parentis, he was even the one who preyed on them, taking advantage of his superior position,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said.

“This Office emphasizes that bare denials of Puertollano cannot withstand the positive declarations and detailed recounts of the harrowing incidents experienced by (the victims) under his hands,” Bersamin added.

The current allegations arose from the complaint of two male OSG legal interns who accompanied Puertollano on a business trip outside of the city in mid-2022.

The records claim that Puertollano changed the hotel room assignments to put himself and his two interns in the same room. One of them took issue with Puertollano showering in front of him and leaving the door open.

Despite his protests, Puertollano went to the bathroom when the victim was taking a shower, and the victim claimed to have felt his boss’s “hand brush my butt cheek.”

Another intern complained about the ASG following him to the bathroom, staring at his crotch, and making obscene comments while they slept in different beds that Puertollano put together.

The documents mentioned that the ASG allegedly “touched (the victim’s) feet under the covers with own feet” and “placed (his) hand on (the victim’s) outer thigh.”

“All of which was unwelcome and pervasive, and which thereby created an intimidating, uncomfortable, and insecure environment,” the charges read.

Meanwhile, several Malacañang sources told DAILY TRIBUNE that the Office of the President sacked Puertollano through a decision promulgated last 22 February.

Another source added that OSG conducted its own investigation and submitted its report to the OP.