REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, REPRESENTED BY THE BUREAU OF BUILDING AND REAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT, VS. ALEJANDRO CARDENAS, DEFENDANT-APPELLEE.

Republic versus Cardenas

The Case

This is an ejectment case brought by the Republic of the Philippines, acting through the Bureau of Building and Real Property Management, against Alejandro Cardenas, an employee and later Chief of the Office of Telecommunications in Baguio City. The Republic sought to recover possession of a government cottage that Cardenas had occupied and for which he had stopped paying rentals, on his claim that Commonwealth Act Number 246 entitled him to free quarters and light. The case matters because it fixes the character of that privilege: it is a personal right attached to a public office, extinguished by retirement and incapable of being inherited by the occupant's heirs.

Procedural History

The Republic filed its complaint for ejectment before the Municipal Court of Baguio City. On March 29, 1961, the Municipal Court rendered a decision absolving Cardenas from any liability, without pronouncement as to costs. That decision was declared final for the government's failure to claim its copy of the decision mailed to its counsel within the reglementary period. The government obtained relief from judgment, and only then was it able to appeal. On appeal, the Court of First Instance of Baguio City dismissed the complaint in a decision dated November 14, 1964, holding that the benefits of the law must accrue to the defendant until he shall retire or is completely separated from the service. The government then elevated the case to the Supreme Court.

Facts

Since 1948, Alejandro Cardenas occupied Cottage Number 80, a government building located a few meters away from the Office of Telecommunications, and he paid rentals for it. He was an employee of the Baguio Post Office and later of the Bureau of Telecommunications, where he served as Chief of the Office of Telecommunications, housed in a government building.

The dispute arose sometime in 1959, when Cardenas stopped paying rentals. He relied on an opinion of the Second Assistant City Attorney of Baguio City advising him that he was entitled to free quarters and light under Commonwealth Act Number 246. The Republic made several demands for back rentals and later a demand to vacate, but these were unavailing. In its complaint, the government alleged that Cardenas occupied four rooms at twenty pesos monthly and was in arrears for 1,080 pesos. Cardenas countered that he occupied only three rooms, and from June 1958 only two, and that his refusal to vacate was justified by the law.

Cardenas continued to live in the cottage even after he retired, and after his death his heirs continued to occupy it. When the Court asked the parties whether the case had become moot, counsel for Cardenas, his son, informed the Court that the case had become moot because Cardenas had long retired and was now deceased. The Solicitor General, however, manifested that the surviving heirs still occupied the property, one of them being the same counsel, and this was not questioned.

Issues

• Whether or not an operator or engineman of the Bureau of Telecommunications assigned to a radio station occupying a government-owned building is entitled to free quarters and light under Commonwealth Act Number 246.
• Whether or not the right to free quarters and light that accrued to Cardenas as operator is extendible to, and may be availed of by, him and his surviving heirs after he retired from the service.

Applicable Provisions

Section 7-11 (23) of Commonwealth Act Number 246, as amended, provides:

Quarter and light for operator engineman assigned to radio stations. Any operator or engineman of the Bureau of Posts (now Bureau of Telecommunications) assigned to any radio station occupying a government-owned building, shall be entitled to quarters and light.

This is the provision on which Cardenas anchored his refusal to pay rentals, and which the Court construed to determine the existence and the duration of the privilege.

Ruling

On the first issue, the Court held that the provision of the law is very clear. Cardenas, as Chief of the Office of Telecommunications and operator therein, was entitled to occupy the cottage while he was in office, as a privilege granted by law to an operator or engineman of the Bureau. The reason for the privilege is that the nature of his duties demands that he be available at any time his services may be needed. The complaint for ejectment was therefore correctly dismissed by the court below, so far as his occupancy during his incumbency was concerned.

On the second issue, the Court answered definitely in the negative. The right to free quarters and light was a right personal to Cardenas by reason of the public office he held. That right was terminated upon his retirement from the service. It is not transferable to his surviving heirs, nor are they entitled to inherit the same. His heirs, one of them a lawyer, should have known this.

Doctrine

The right to free quarters and light under Section 7-11 (23) of Commonwealth Act Number 246 is a privilege granted to an operator or engineman of the Bureau of Telecommunications assigned to a radio station occupying a government-owned building, and it is granted because the nature of his duties demands that he be available at any time his services may be needed. The right is personal to the occupant by reason of the public office he holds. It is terminated upon his retirement or complete separation from the service. It is neither transferable to nor inheritable by his surviving heirs, who may be ejected and made to pay rentals computed from the time of his retirement until they actually vacate.

Disposition

The Court modified the judgment appealed from, ordering Cardenas, his heirs, agents, and representatives to vacate the property and to pay rentals as may be determined by the City Court of Baguio, to which the records were remanded to identify the heirs still occupying the premises and to fix the rentals from the time of his retirement until actual vacation, the decision being immediately executory.

Remember This

The one line to memorize: the right to free quarters and light is personal to the operator by reason of his public office, and it dies with his retirement. Examiners use this case to test whether a statutory privilege attached to a public office survives in the hands of the public officer's heirs.