Villena v. Secretary of Interior

Villena v. Secretary of Interior

G.R. No. L-46570 April 21, 1939

Laurel, J.

Facts:

                the Division of Investigation of the Department of Justice, upon the request of the Secretary of the Interior, conducted an inquiry into the conduct of the petitioner, as a result of which the latter was found to have committed bribery, extortion, malicious abuse of authority and unauthorized practice of the law profession. The respondent, therefore, on February 8, 1939, recommended to the President of the Philippines the suspension of the petitioner to prevent possible coercion of witnesses, which recommendation was granted, according to the answer of the Solicitor-General of March 20, 1939, verbally by the President on the same day. The Secretary of the Interior suspended the petitioner from office on February 9, 1939, and then and thereafter wired the Provincial Governor of Rizal with instruction that the petitioner be advised accordingly. On February 13, 1939, the respondent wrote the petitioner a letter, specifying the many charges against him and notifying him of the designation of Emiliano Anonas as special investigator to investigate the charges.

Issue:

                whether the Secretary of the Interior has the legal authority (a) to order an investigation, by a special investigation appointed by him, of the charges of corruption and irregularity brought to his attention against the mayor of the municipality of Makati, Province of Rizal, who is the petitioner herein, and (b) to decree the suspension of the said mayor pending the investigation of the charges

Held:

                Section 79 (C) of the Administrative Code provides as follows:

The Department Head shall have direct control, direction, and supervision over all bureaus and offices under his jurisdiction and may, any provision of existing law to the contrary notwithstanding, repeal or modify the decisions of the chiefs of said bureaus of offices when advisable in the public interest.

The Department Head may order the investigation of any act conduct of any person in the service of any bureau of office under his department and in connection therewith may appoint a committee or designate an official or person who shall conduct such investigations, and such committee, official, or person may summon, witness by subpoena and subpoena duces tecum, administer oath and take testimony relevant to the investigation.

The above section speaks, it is true, of direct control, direction, and supervision over bureaus and offices under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, but this section should be interpreted in relation to section 86 of the same Code which grants to the Department of the Interior “executive supervision over the administration of provinces, municipalities, chartered cities and other local political subdivisions.” Therefore, the Secretary of the Interior is invested with authority to order the investigation of the charges against the petitioner and to appoint a special investigator for that purpose.

Administrative Code which provides that “The provincial governor shall receive and investigate complaints made under oath against municipal officers for neglect of duty, oppression, corruption or other form of maladministration of office, and conviction by final judgment of any crime involving moral turpitude. For minor delinquency he may reprimand the offender; and if a more severe punishment seems to be desirable he shall submit written charges touching the matter to the provincial board, furnishing a copy of such charges to the accused either personally or by registered mail, and he may in such case suspend the officer (not being the municipal treasurer) pending action by the board, if in his opinion the charge be one affecting the official integrity of the officer in question. Where suspension is thus effected, the written charges against the officer shall be filed with the board within five days.” The fact, however, that the power of suspension is expressly granted by section 2188 of the Administrative Code to the provincial governor does not mean that the grant is necessarily exclusive and precludes the Secretary of the Interior from exercising a similar power.

The suspension of the petitioner should be sustained on the principle of approval or ratification of the act of the Secretary of the Interior by the President of the Philippines.

Under the presidential type of government which we have adopted and considering the departmental organization established and continued in force by paragraph 1, section 12, Article VII, of our Constitution, all executive and administrative organizations are adjuncts of the Executive Department, the heads of the various executive departments are assistants and agents of the Chief Executive, and except in cases where the Chief Executive is required by the Constitution or the law to act in person or the exigencies of the situation demand that he act personally, the multifarious executive and administrative functions of the Chief Executive are performed by and through the executive departments, and the acts of the secretaries of such departments, performed and promulgated in the regular course of business, are, unless disapproved or reprobated by the Chief Executive, presumptively the acts of the Chief Executive.