MARCIAL F. SAMSON, CITY MAYOR OF CALOOCAN CITY, THE CITY TREASURER, THE CITY AUDITOR, BOTH OF CALOOCAN CITY, AND HERMOGENES LIWAG, PETITIONERS, VS. THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEAL…

Samson versus Talens

The Case

This is a petition brought by the City Mayor of Caloocan City, together with the City Treasurer, the City Auditor, and the man appointed in his place, against the Court of Appeals and the heirs of Feliciano C. Talens. The action tests the legality of Administrative Order Number 3, issued on January 10, 1972, by which the mayor summarily terminated the services of Talens as Assistant Secretary to the Mayor on the ground of lack and loss of confidence. The mayor relied on the provision of the Civil Service Act declaring the positions of secretaries to city mayors non-competitive, and read that provision to cover the assistant secretary as well. The case matters because it fixes the rule that exceptions to the competitive service are strictly construed, and that an assistant secretary is not a secretary within the meaning of the law.

Procedural History

Talens filed a petition for certiorari, prohibition, mandamus and quo warranto before the then Court of First Instance of Caloocan City. He asked that the administrative order be annulled, that the mayor, treasurer and auditor be enjoined from enforcing it, that they be compelled to pay his salaries and emoluments, and that Hermogenes Liwag be ousted from the disputed position. The trial court ruled in his favor, declaring Administrative Order Number 3 null and void and granting all the reliefs he claimed. The petitioners appealed to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed the decision of the trial court. The case then reached the Supreme Court by petition, and the Court affirmed the decision appealed from, modifying only the dispositive portion to account for the death of Talens.

Facts

On March 16, 1970, then City Mayor Macario Asistio of Caloocan City appointed Feliciano C. Talens, a civil service eligible, as Assistant Secretary to the Mayor. The appointment was attested as permanent by the Commissioner of Civil Service under the Civil Service Act, and Talens performed the duties of the office and twice received increases in salary.

On January 11, 1972, City Mayor Marcial F. Samson, who had succeeded Mayor Asistio, furnished Talens with Administrative Order Number 3. Invoking the provision of the Civil Service Act making the positions of secretaries of city mayors non-competitive, and asserting that the nature of the position was primarily and highly confidential, the order terminated his services effective the closing hours of January 10, 1972, for lack and loss of confidence, and directed him to turn over all official documents and records.

Talens demurred, insisting that his position was not covered by the provision, which specifies as non-competitive only the secretaries of provincial, city and municipal boards and councils, and that having been permanently appointed to a classified position, he could be removed only for cause and after due process. The mayor declined to recall the order. Talens then brought suit, and Hermogenes Liwag was appointed in his place. Talens died on August 28, 1982, and the Court allowed his widow to substitute the heirs in his stead.

Issues

• Whether or not the position of Assistant Secretary to the City Mayor falls within the non-competitive service under the provision of the Civil Service Act declaring the positions of secretaries of city mayors non-competitive.
• Whether or not the position of Assistant Secretary to the City Mayor is primarily confidential in nature, such that the occupant may be removed upon loss of confidence.

Applicable Provisions

Section 5 of Republic Act Number 2260, as amended by Republic Act Number 6040, provides:

The non-competitive service shall be composed of positions expressly declared by law to be in the non-competitive service and those which are policy-determining, primarily confidential or highly technical in nature.

This is the provision the mayor invoked, and the Court had to decide whether the assistant secretary is embraced in its enumeration of secretaries of city mayors.

Section 3 of the same law, as amended, provides:

Positions in all branches, subdivisions and instrumentalities of the government, including those in government owned or controlled corporations, belong to the competitive service, except those expressly declared by law to be in the non-competitive service and those which are policy-determining, primarily confidential or highly technical in nature.

This establishes the general rule of the competitive service and confines the non-competitive service to the exceptions.

Section 2 of the same law states its purpose:

To insure and promote the constitutional mandate regarding appointments only according to merit and fitness, and to provide within the public service a progressive system of personal administration to insure the maintenance of an honest and efficient progressive and courteous civil service in the Philippines.

This purpose supports a reading that keeps the exceptions narrow.

Ruling

On the first issue, the Court held that the position of Assistant Secretary to the City Mayor is not within the non-competitive service. Exceptions, as a general rule, should be strictly but reasonably construed; they extend only so far as their language fairly warrants, and all doubts should be resolved in favor of the general provisions rather than the exception. Where a statute enumerates the subjects on which it is to operate, it is construed as excluding from its effects all those not expressly mentioned. Since the law could easily have said "secretaries and their assistants" had Congress so intended, the Court refused to add the assistant secretary by implication.

On the second issue, the Court held that the position is not primarily confidential. It is the nature of the position, not the duties that may be delegated to its occupant, that finally determines whether a position is primarily confidential. While duties possibly involving confidential matters are sometimes handled by the assistant secretary, this does not transform the nature of the position itself. The Court stressed that the Secretary to the Mayor and the Assistant Secretary to the Mayor are two separate and distinct positions, the latter being of lower rank and not carrying the requisites attaching to the primarily confidential position of the actual secretary. An assistant merely helps, aids or serves in a subordinate capacity to the person clothed with all the duties and responsibilities of secretary, and the trust and confidence reposed in the secretary are not automatically vested in the assistant.

Doctrine

First, positions in the government belong to the competitive service unless expressly declared by law to be non-competitive or shown to be policy-determining, primarily confidential or highly technical. Second, exceptions to the competitive service are strictly construed, and all doubts are resolved in favor of the general rule. Third, the nature of the position, not the duties delegated to its occupant, determines whether it is primarily confidential. Fourth, an assistant secretary is not a secretary within the meaning of the law; the two are separate and distinct positions, and the assistant does not automatically share the confidential character of the secretary.

Disposition

The Court affirmed the decision appealed from, declaring Administrative Order Number 3 null and void and ordering the petitioners, except Hermogenes Liwag, to pay the salaries and emoluments due to Talens as Assistant Secretary to the Mayor for a limited period of three years, without costs.

Remember This

The single line worth memorizing is that exceptions to the competitive service are strictly construed, and an assistant secretary is not a secretary. Examiners use this case to test statutory construction of the Civil Service Law and the distinction between a primarily confidential position and one that merely handles confidential matters.