LUIS FLORESCA, PETITIONER, VS. AMPARO QUETULIO, RESPONDENT.

PARAS, J.:


The petitioner, pre-war justice of the peace of Piddig, Carasi and
Nagpapalcan, Ilocos Norte, prays for his reinstatement to said position. It is
alleged that he was not reappointed either upon the restoration of the
Commonwealth Government or upon the establishment of the Republic of the
Philippines, in violation of his constitutional tenure. The respondent, whose
ouster is sought by the petitioner, admits her appointment to and actual
incumbency of the position held before the war by the petitioner, but asserts
her right to stay in view of petitioner’s abandonment of said office.

The respondent’s contention is correct. It is undisputed that the petitioner,
when required by the proper authorities to assume his pre-war post after the
liberation, refused to do so and pointed out that the salary.of the position
could not then sustain his family; that in the meantime the petitioner accepted
the position, first, of junior legal assistant and, secondly, of civilian
investigator of the Provost Marshal Office in the Gabu U. S. Army Air Base at
Laoag, Ilocos Norte; that shortly after the inauguration of the Republic of the
Philippines, or on July 27, 1946, the petitioner accepted the position of senior
social worker, PRATRA, for Ilocos Norte. Petitioner’s refusal to go back to his
old post and his subsequent acceptance of other employments, without any
pretense on his part that he simultaneously continued to perform the functions
of justice of the peace, clearly show deliberate abandonment of the lat- ter
office, especially when attention is called to the fact, likewise undisputed,
that in the year 1946, the petitioner, in his application submitted to the
committee in charge of passing upon applications for government positions in
Ilocos Norte, made it clear that he wanted to be appointed to any position other
than that of justice of the peace. To now reinstate the petitioner would be to
allow a government official to subordinate public interest to personal comfort
and convenience.

The petition is therefore denied, with costs, against the petitioner. So
ordered.

Moran, C.J., Feria, Pablo, Perfecto, Berngzon, Briones,
Tuason, and Montemayor, JJ., concur.

CONCURRING:

PERFECTO, J.:

Upon the facts in this case, the conclusion is inevitable that petitioner has
renounced the position of justice of the peace he is claiming. The
constitutional guarantee of judicial tenure of office, as provided for in
Section 9 of Article VIII of the Constitution, is not a carte blanche for a
judicial officer to freely relinquish his court position and to claim it at any
time at his pleasure. A judicial office is not a household furniture which can
be relegated to a corner and retrieved at one’s convenience. It is not a private
property that the occupant, at his discretion, may lend to others and reoccupy
again.

A judicial position may be lost by resignation, renunciation, or abandonment.
The constitutional guarantee of judicial tenure is, in such cases, waived.

Because of that waiver, petitioner has lost all title to occupy again the
judgeship in controversy and, for such reason, his petition must be
dismissed.