JESUS ARMANDO A.R. TARROSA, PETITIONER, VS. GABRIEL C. SINGSON AND HON. SALVADOR M. ENRIQUEZ III, RESPONDENTS.

This is a petition for prohibition filed by petitioner as a
“taxpayer,” questioning the appointment of respondent Gabriel Singson
as Governor of the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas for not having been confirmed by
the Commission on Appointments. The
petition seeks to enjoin respondent Singson from the performance of his
functions as such official until his appointment is confirmed by the Commission on Appointments and respondent
Salvador M. Enriquez, Secretary of Budget and Management, from disbursing
public funds in payment of the salaries and emoluments of respondent Singson.

I

Respondent Singson was appointed Governor of the Bangko Sentral
by President Fidel V. Ramos on July 2, 1993, effective on July 6, 1993 (Rollo, p. 10).

Petitioner argues that respondent Singson’s appointment is null
and void since it was not submitted for confirmation to the Commission on
Appointments. The petition is anchored
on the provisions of Section 6 of R.A. No. 7653, which established the Bangko
Sentral as the Central Monetary Authority of the Philippines. Section 6, Article II of R.A. No. 7653
provides:

“SEC. 6. Composition
of the Monetary Board. The powers
and functions of the Bangko Sentral shall be exercised by the Bangko Sentral
Monetary Board, hereafter referred to as the Monetary Board, composed of seven
(7) members appointed by the President of the Philippines for a term of six (6)
years.

The seven (7) members are:

(a) The Governor
of the Bangko Sentral, who shall be the Chairman of the Monetary Board. The Governor of the Bangko Sentral shall
be head of a department and his appointment shall be subject to confirmation by
the Commission on Appointments. Whenever the Governor is unable to attend a meeting of the Board, he
shall designate a Deputy Governor to act as his alternate: Provided, That in such event, the Monetary
Board shall designate one of its members as acting Chairman x x x” (Underlining supplied).

In their comment, respondents claim that Congress exceeded its
legislative powers in requiring the confirmation by the Commission on
Appointments of the appointment of the Governor of the Bangko Sentral. They contend that an appointment to the said
position is not among the appointments which have to be confirmed by the
Commission on Appointments, citing Section 16 of Article VII of the
Constitution which provides that:

“SEC. 16. The
President shall nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on
Appointments, appoint the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors,
other public ministers and consuls, or officers of the armed
forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, and other officers whose
appointments are vested in him in this Constitution. He shall also appoint all other officers of
the Government whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by law, and
those whom he may be authorized by law to appoint. The Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of other officers
lower in rank in the President alone, in the courts, or in the heads of
department, agencies, commissions, or boards xxx” (Underlining supplied).

Respondents also aver that the Bangko Sentral has its own budget
and accordingly, its budgetary requirements are not subject to the provisions
of the General Appropriations Act.

We dismiss the petition.

II

The instant petition is in the nature of a quo warranto
proceeding as it seeks the ouster of respondent Singson and alleges that the
latter is unlawfully holding or exercising the powers of Governor of the Bangko
Sentral (Cf. Castro v. Del Rosario, 19 SCRA 196 [1967]). Such a special civil action can only be
commenced by the Solicitor General or by a “person claiming to be entitled
to a public office or position unlawfully held or exercised by another”
(Revised Rules of Court, Rule 66, Sec. 6; Acosta v. Flor, 5 Phil. 18 [1905]).

In Sevilla v. Court of Appeals, 209 SCRA 637
(1992), we held that the petitioner therein, who did not aver that he was
entitled to the office of the City Engineer of Cabanatuan City, could not bring
the action for quo warranto to oust the respondent from said
office as a mere usurper.

Likewise in Greene v. Knox, 175 N.Y. 432
(1903), 67 N.E. 910, it was held that the question of title to an office, which
must be resolved in a quo warranto proceeding, may not be
determined in a suit to restrain the payment of salary to the person holding
such office, brought by someone who does not claim to be the one entitled to
occupy the said office.

It is obvious that the instant action was improvidently brought
by petitioner. To uphold the action
would encourage every disgruntled citizen to resort to the courts, thereby
causing incalculable mischief and hindrance to the efficient operation of the
governmental machinery (See Roosevelt v. Draper, 7 Abb. Pr. 108, 23 N.Y. 218).

Its capstone having been removed, the whole case of petitioner
collapses. Hence, there is no need to
resolve the question of whether the disbursement of public funds to pay the
salaries and emoluments of respondent Singson can be enjoined. Likewise, the Court refrains from passing
upon the constitutionality of Section 6, R.A. No. 7653 in deference to the
principle that bars a judicial inquiry into a constitutional question unless
the resolution thereof is indispensable
for the determination of the case (Fernandez v. Torres, 215 SCRA 489 [1992]).

However for the information of all concerned, we call attention
to our decision in Calderon v. Carale, 208 SCRA 254 (1992), with Justice Isagani A. Cruz dissenting,
where we ruled that Congress cannot by law expand the confirmation powers of
the Commission on Appointments and require confirmation of appointment of other
government officials not expressly mentioned in the first sentence of Section
16 of Article VII of the Constitution.

WHEREFORE, the petition is DENIED. No pronouncement as to costs.

SO ORDERED.

Feliciano, Bidin, Regalado, Davide, Jr., Romero, Bellosillo,
Melo, Puno, Vitug, and Kapunan, JJ., concur.

Padilla, J., separate opinion.

Narvasa, C.J. and Cruz,
J., on leave.