DIRECTING THE FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REORGANIZATION OF THE RECORDS DIVISION OF THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ATTORNEY

WHEREAS, on 17 February 1995, Chief
Justice Andres R. Narvasa approved for inclusion in the 1996 budget the
reorganization of the clerical staff of the Office of the Chief Attorney
into Records Division;

WHEREAS, the duly approved
reorganization involved the creation of the position items of Records
Officer V, Records Officer IV, Records Officer I, and Utility Worker I
(which now appears in the plantilla of the Office of the Chief Attorney
as Utility Worker II) and the conversion or reclassification of the
following position items with their respective salary grades:

WHEREAS, the said reorganization has
been partially implemented by the appointment of the Chief (Records
Officer V) and the Assistant Chief (Records Officer IV) of the Records
Division in 1997 and 1998, respectively, and the filling up of the
positions of Records Officer I and Utility Worker I (now Utility Worker
II) thereafter, as a consequence of the inclusion of such created
position items in the Personal Services Itemization (PSI) of this Court;

WHEREAS, the conversion of the
position items enumerated above in the reorganized Records Division has
not been implemented on account of the failure or refusal of the
Department of Budget and Management to reflect the same in the Personal
Services Itemization (PSI), notwithstanding the approval of the
reorganization by then Chief Justice Narvasa;

WHEREAS, the funds for conversion of
items have been consistently included in the budget estimate for the
Office of the Chief Attorney for the past years since the former Chief
Justice approved the reorganization of its Records Division and
therefore included in the annual appropriations for personnel services
for the Court;

WHEREAS, the failure to fully
implement the duly approved reorganization of the Records Division has
caused detriment to, and demoralization of, the personnel therein whose
position items have not yet been actually converted or reclassified, as
well as the distortion of the organizational set-up of the same
Division, thereby adversely affecting the interest of the service;

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the (1)
constitutional mandate of fiscal autonomy of this Court that includes
the power to disburse such sums as it may prescribe in the course of the
discharge of its functions; (2) administrative supervision of this
Court over courts and personnel thereof; and (3) General Appropriations
Act for FY 2002 authorizing the Judiciary and other constitutional
bodies with fiscal autonomy to “make adjustments in the personal
services itemization including, but not limited to, the transfer of item
or creation of new positions in their respective offices,” the Office
of Clerk of Court, the Office of Administrative Services (OAS), and the
Fiscal Management and Budget Office (FMBO) are hereby directed to

(b) furnish the Department of Budget and Management
with a copy of this Circular for the purpose of recording the converted
or reclassified position items in the Personal Services Itemization of
this Court.

The Court En Banc approved this Administrative
Circular and set its date of effectivity on 1 March 2003 in the
Resolution of 11 February 2003 in A.M. No. 03-1-01-SC (Full
Implementation of the Reorganization of the Records Division of the
Office of the Chief Attorney), which was amended in the Resolution of 11
March 2003 to reflect the correct classification of two of the
converted positions, in accordance with the DBM Index of Position-Titles
and Salary Grades.

Issued this 14th day of March 2003.