The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the immediate reinstatement of two National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) deputy directors who were dismissed from their posts by former justice secretary Leila de Lima in 2014.

In a 24-page decision penned by Associate Justice Mary Charlene V. Hernandez-Azura dated Sept. 28, CA granted the appeal filed by the two former officials and said they “were illegally and unceremoniously removed or dismissed from the service as NBI Directors III (Deputy Director).”

The court directed the Office of the President (OP) and the NBI to reinstate lawyer Reynaldo Esmeralda to his former position as deputy director “without loss of seniority rights and without a gap in the continuity of his government service.”

CA also ordered immediate payment to Esmeraldo of his “full back wages, salaries, incentives, benefits, & other monetary privileges & emoluments at the current rate from the time of his actual dismissal from service as stated above until the finality of this Decision, as if he was not actually dismissed from service.”

Likewise, lawyer Ruel Lasala will receive full back wages, salaries, incentives, benefits, and other monetary privileges and emoluments since he already reached retirement age.

Esmeralda and Lasala filed a petition after de Lima relieved them of their post.

On March 6, 2014, De Lima issued Department Order No. 192 directing them to fully wind up and turn over their affairs to newly appointed deputy directors Ricardo Pangan Jr. and Antonio M. Pagatpat.