Pobre v. Mendieta

Pobre v. Mendieta

G.R. No. 106677 July 23, 1993

Griño-Aquino

Issue:

                whether the President may appoint as Commissioner/Chairman of the PRC another Associate Commissioner or any person other than the Senior Associate Commissioner

Held:

                Yes. The petition raises an issue regarding the proper construction of the provision in Section 2 of P.D. No. 223 that: “. . . any vacancy in the Commission shall be filled for the unexpired term only with the most Senior of the Associate Commissioners succeeding the Commissioner at the expiration of his term, resignation or removal,” whereby the legality of Pobre’s appointment as PRC Chairman may be determined.

                In interpreting this section of P.D. No. 223, consideration should be accorded the provision of the Constitution vesting the power of appointment in the President of the Philippines.

                Section 10, Article VII of the 1973 Constitution which took effect on January 17, 1973 (per Proclamation No. 1102) was the source of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos’ authority to issue P.D. No. 223 on June 22, 1973, because under that constitutional provision, the President was empowered to “appoint the heads of bureaus and offices.” The chairman of the PRC is the head of an office.

Sec. 10. The President shall appoint the heads of bureaus offices, the officers of the armed forces of the Philippines from the rank of brigadier general or commodore, and all other officers of the Government whose appointments are not otherwise provided for, and those whom he may be authorized by law to appoint. However, the Batasang Pambansa may by law vest in the Prime Minister, members of the Cabinet, the Executive Committee, courts, heads of agencies, commissions and boards the power to appoint inferior officers.

                Section 10, Article VII of the 1973 Constitution was modified by Section 16, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, which provides:

Sec. 16. The President shall nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, appoint the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, or officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain and other officers whose appointments are vested in him in this Constitution. He shall appoint all other officers of the Government whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by law, and those whom he may authorized by law to appoint. The Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of other officers’ lower in rank in the President alone, in the courts, or in the heads of departments, agencies, commissions, or boards.

                This provision empowers the President to appoint “those whom he may be authorized by law to appoint.” The law that authorizes him to appoint the PRC Commissioner and Associate Commissioners, is P.D. 223, Section 2, which provides that the Commissioner and Associate Commissioners of the PRC are “all to be appointed by the President for a term of nine (9) years, without reappointment, to start from the time they assume office . . . .”

                Section 2, P.D. No. 223 provides that: any vacancy in the Commission shall be filled for the unexpired term only with the most Senior of the Associate Commissioners succeeding the Commissioner at the expiration of his term, resignation or removal. The succession clause operates only when there is an “unexpired term” of the Chairman/Commissioner to be served. Otherwise, if the Chairman’s term had expired or been fully served, the vacancy must be filled by appointment of a new chairman by the President.