ENRIQUE MORALES, ET AL., PETITIONERS AND APPELLEES, VS. THE CITY ENGINEER OF THE CITY OF CAVITE, RESPONDENT AND APPELLANT.

Enrique Morales, Prudencio de la Cruz, Agaton Mendoza and Hilarion Vicente,
hereinafter referred to as appellees, were employees of the Office of the City
Engineer, City of Cavite, their respective appointments as pump operators of the
Cavite Waterworks System having been signed by the Under Secretary of Public
Works and Communications (Exhibits E, 1, 1-1, L and P). On July 26, 1954, after
serviig in the aforesaid capacity for several years, they were summarily removed
by the City Engineer and replaced with other appointees. Two days thereafter
appellees lodged written protests with the Secretary of Public Works and
Communications, and on December 29 of the same year they filed in the Court of
First Instance of Cavite the present action for mandamus against the aforesaid
City Engineer to compel him to reinstate them, with all the rights and
privileges appertaining to their positions as of the datp of their removal. On
February 14, 1955, finding the protests to be well founded, and, in accordance
with the recommendation of the Bureau of Civil Service, the Director of Public
Works and Communications ordered the City Engineer to reinstate appellees. Upon
receipt of said order on February 26, 1954, the City Engineer reinstated
appellees and thereafter filed a motion to dismiss the present case upon the
ground that the question raised therein had become moot. However, upon
appellees’ objection, the motion to dismiss was denied because, aside from their
reinstatement, their petition for mandamus sought payment of their respective
salaries during the period from July 26, 1954 until their reinstatement.

The record discloses that on April 29, 1955, with previous leave of Court,
the City of Cavite through the City Fiscal, filed an answer in intervention.

The main defense interposed by the City Fiscal and the City of Cavite,
hereinafter referred to as appellants, was that the Cavite Waterworks System is
an independent business entity owned, financed and operated by the City of
Cavite under a certificate of public convenience granted to “it by the Public
Service Commission; that the appointments pf appellees made by the Under
Secretary of Public Works and Communications were, therefore, illegal because
all the employees of the City of Cavite, including those of the Cavite
Waterworks System, were to be appointed by.the Mayor of said City in accordance
with Art. IV, sec. 19, of Commonwealth Act No. 547, commonly known as the
Charter of the City of Cavite; that because of the illegality of their
appointments and because they were merely temporary employees, they could be
removed without cause and they were not entitled to back salaries.

After trial upon the issue thus joined, the lower court rendered judgment as
follows:

“The Court, considering all the facts of the case as proven in Court and
supported by the evidence presented by the parties, hereby declares that the
preponderance’ of evidence justifies the rendering of judgment in favor of
petitioners, as follows:

(1) The three petitioners, Enrique Morales, Prudencio de la Cruz^and Hilarion
Vicente are hereby declared employees with permanent status, duly appointed by
the Honorable Secretary of Public Works as pump operators of the Waterworks
System of the City of Cavite, with salaries at the rate of P130.00 a month each
and their validity can not be questioned by the City Fiscal unless it is
declared null and void by the Court in a separate action;

(2) That all the four petitioners were unduly separated from the serrice on
July 26, 1954, although Enrique Morales, Prudencio de la Cruz and Hilarion
Vicente have reported back to their jobs when they received advice of their
reinstatement since February 26, 1955—but these three have not as yet been paid
their salaries, not even for their services rendered since the latter date of
February 26, 1955;

(3) It is hereby ordered the permanent reinstatement of Agaton Mendoza at any
time upon his report to the Office of the City Engineer of Cavite;

(4) It is hereby ordered that the respective salaries of the lour petitioners
be paid to each one of them at the rate of P130.00 a month beginning from the
date of their suspension on July 26, 1954, up to February 26, 1955;

(5) Petitioners Enrique Morales, Prudencio de la Cruz and Hilarion Vicente
should be paid their respective salaries beginning from the date of their
reinstatement on February 26, 1955 up to the present; and, in the case of Agaton
Mendoza, he should be paid his salaries only upon bis report back to his Job and
up to as long as he works as a permanent employee of the Cavite City Waterworks
System, as pump operator;

(6) All the rights and privileges appertaining to the petitioners are hereby
restored, especially their rights to vacation leave, accrued leave, to insurance
benefits and to their retirement;

(7) All authorities concerned of the City of Cavite having intervention in
the payment ordered in this Decision are hereby required to extend their
respective accomplishments;

(8) The respondent should pay the costs of the proceedings.

So Ordered.”

Having appealed from the above decision, the City Engineer and the City of
Cavite now claim that the trial court erred: in holding that appellees were
permanent employees of the Cavite Waterworks System and that they were unduly
separated from the service on July 26, 1954; in ordering their reinstatement as
pump operators and the payment of their respective salaries at the rate of
P130.00 monthly from July 26, 1964 to February 26, 1955, and in restoring to
appellees all rights and privileges appertaining to their positions, including
vacation leave, accrued leave, insurance benefits and retirement pay.

Appellants’ claim that the Mayor of Cavite City was the one empowered to
appoint the employees of the Cavite Waterworks System is based on the provisions
of Art. IV, sec. 19, of Commonwealth Act No. 547, commonly known as the Charter
of the City of Cavite, which provides that all other officers and
employees of the City whose appointment is not otherwise provided for by
law, shall be appointed by the Mayor, upon recommendation of the
corresponding city department heads, in accordance with the Civil Service Law,
and may be suspended or removed only in acordance with law. Paragraph (j),
section 22, Article VI of the same Act, clearly provides, on the other hand,
that the City Engineer of Cavite City shall have the care and custody of the
public system of waterworks and sewerage, while Section 1 of Commonwealth Act
No. 424, in relation to the personnel of the engineering departments of
chartered cities, provides that—

“The assistant engineer, superintendents, and other employees as are from
time to time provided for in appropriation ordinances of the City shall be
appointed in accordance with existing laws governing the appointment of civil
engineers, assistant civil engineers and other personnel in the various
engineering districts of the Bureau of Public Works in the
provinces.”

In connection with the legal provisions mentioned above, Section 79-D of the
Revised Administrative Code, which governs the appointment of civil engineers,
assistant civil engineers and other personnel in. the various engineering
districts under the Bureau of Public Works, provides the following:

“The Department Head, upon the recommendation of the Chief of the Bureau or
Office concerned, shall appoint all subordinate officers and employees whose
appointment is not expressly vested in the (Governor-General) President of the
Philippines, and may remove or punish them except as specifically provided
otherwise, in accordance with the Civil Service Law. Laborers receiving
compensation at the rate of seven hundred and twenty pesos or less per annum and
other employees receiving compensation at the rate of two hundred pesos or less
per annum, shall be appointed and removed by the Chief of the Bureau or Office,
subject only to the general control of the Department Head.

“The Department Head also may, from time to time in, the interest of the
service, change the distribution among the several Bureaus and Offices of his
Department of the employee or subordinate authorized by law.”

As already stated heretofore, appellees were appointed by the Under Secretary
of Public Works and Communications. Morales’ appointment was for Item No. 52 in
the approved city plantilla of personnel of the Office of the City Engineer,
Cavite City, De la Cruz’ was for Item No. 48, Vicente’s for Item No. 59 and
Mendoza’s for Item No. 61. Since their respective appointments several years
prior to their removal they ‘had rendered apparently satisfactory service, and
had been paid with funds appropriated by the City of Cavite.

It would seem, therefore, that, according to law, the employees of the Cavite
Waterworks System are to be appointed by the Department of Public Works and
Communications; that the City of Cavite has fully acquiesced to this
interpretation by recognizing appointments made by the Secretary of Public Works
and Communications and paying the salaries due to the appointees; that even
while the present action was pending, in view of the reinstatement of appellees
pursuant to the orders of the Director of Public Works, the City of Cavite and
the City Engineer had again acknowledged the right of the Secretary of Public
Works and Communications to appoint the employees of the Cavite Waterworks
System. The conclusion is, therefore, inescapable that the appellees were
illegally removed from office on July 26, 1954 and that the order for their
reinstatement issued by the Director of Public Works, in conformity with the
favorable recommendation of the Bureau of Civil Service, was in accordance with
law.

In view of all the foregoing, the appealed decision is hereby affirmed, with
costs.

Bengzon, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Reyes, J.B.L., Barrera,
Gutierrez David, and Paredes, JJ., concur.

Judgment affirmed.