DR. LAMPA I. PANDI AND DR. JARMILA B. MACACUA, PETITIONERS, VS. THE COURT OF APPEALS, AND DR. AMER A. SABER, RESPONDENTS.

Pandi versus Saber

The Case

This is a petition for review on certiorari brought by Dr. Lampa Pandi and Dr. Jarmila Macacua against Dr. Amer Saber, asking the Supreme Court to reverse the Court of Appeals, which had granted Saber's petition for a writ of quo warranto and declared him entitled to the position of Officer-in-Charge of the Integrated Provincial Health Office of the Amai Pakpak General Hospital in Lanao del Sur. At bottom the dispute is a question of devolution: who, after the national health services were transferred to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, holds the power to appoint and to designate the provincial health officer. The case matters because it fixes the constitutional boundary between regional autonomy and local autonomy, and because it teaches that an organic act may be changed only by the amendatory process written into it.

Procedural History

Saber filed a petition for quo warranto with a prayer for preliminary injunction before the Court of Appeals, which issued a temporary restraining order against Pandi and later a writ of preliminary injunction upon Saber's posting of a bond. Pandi and Macacua moved to reconsider and to dissolve the writ, offering a counter-bond, but the Court of Appeals denied both motions. Sani sought to intervene, and that motion was likewise denied for lack of merit. On April 15, 1994, the Court of Appeals rendered its decision declaring Saber the lawfully designated Officer-in-Charge and making the injunction permanent; it denied reconsideration in a resolution dated August 16, 1994. Pandi and Macacua then came to the Supreme Court by petition for review on certiorari under Rule 45.

Facts

On August 9, 1993, Macacua, acting as Regional Director and Secretary of the Department of Health of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, issued a memorandum designating Pandi, then Assistant Regional Secretary, as Officer-in-Charge of the Integrated Provincial Health Office of the Amai Pakpak General Hospital in Lanao del Sur, and detailing Dr. Mamasao Sani, the provincial health officer, to the regional office in Cotabato City. On September 15, 1993, Lanao del Sur Governor Mahid Mutilan issued an office order designating Saber to the same position of Officer-in-Charge.

Sani challenged his transfer before the Regional Trial Court of Lanao del Sur in Marawi City, claiming a permanent appointment as provincial health officer. Saber, for his part, went to the Court of Appeals on October 5, 1993, claiming to be the lawfully designated Officer-in-Charge. On October 29, 1993, President Fidel Ramos issued Executive Order No. 133, transferring the powers and functions of the Department of Health in the region to the Regional Government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. On November 6, 1993, Macacua reiterated Pandi's designation.

Pandi and Macacua later moved to dismiss Saber's petition on the ground that the issues had become moot with the enactment of the Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act No. 25, the regional local government code, and the memorandum of agreement between the national health department and the regional government. The Court of Appeals rejected that argument and ruled for Saber, holding that the power to appoint the provincial health officer belongs to the Provincial Governor under the Local Government Code of 1991, and that the regional code could not diminish a power already enjoyed by the local government unit.

Issues

• Whether or not Saber is the legally designated Officer-in-Charge of the provincial health office, the power to appoint the provincial health officer being vested in the Provincial Governor under the Local Government Code of 1991.
• Whether or not Executive Order No. 133, the regional local government code, and the memorandum of agreement rendered the issues moot and academic.
• Whether or not the Regional Governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao holds only a recommendatory prerogative in the appointment of the provincial health officer under the regional code.
• Whether or not the Organic Act of 1989 is an exception to the Local Government Code of 1991 and prevails over it.

Applicable Provisions

Section 17 of Executive Order No. 119, the former charter of the Department of Health, provides:

The Provincial Health Officer and Assistant Provincial Health Officer shall be appointed by the Minister to a region, and their assignment to a province shall be made by the Minister on recommendation of the Regional Director.

This shows that before the Organic Act of 1989 the provincial health officer was appointed to a region, not to a province, and could be assigned anywhere within it.

Section 199 of the Local Government Code of 1984 provides:

There shall be in each province a governor, a vice-governor, members of the sangguniang panlalawigan, a provincial secretary, a provincial treasurer, a provincial assessor, a provincial budget officer, a provincial engineer, a provincial agriculturist and a provincial planning and development coordinator.

The omission of the provincial health officer confirms that he was then a national, not a provincial, official.

Section 3, Article III of the Organic Act of 1989 provides:

The Regional Government shall adopt a policy on local autonomy whereby regional powers shall be devolved to local government units where appropriate: Provided, however, that until a regional law implementing this provision is enacted, the Local Government Code shall be applicable.

This made the existing local government code the interim law in the region until the region enacted its own.

Section 3, Article XVIII of the Organic Act of 1989 provides:

Any amendment to or revision of this Organic Act shall become effective only when approved by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite called for the purpose, which shall be held not earlier than sixty (60) days or later than ninety (90) days after the approval of such amendment or revision.

This is the provision that defeats any claim that an ordinary later statute could amend the organic act.

Ruling

The Court found the petition meritorious and reduced the issues to three questions: who may assign an incumbent provincial health officer, who may designate the Officer-in-Charge, and who may appoint the provincial health officer. It answered these by tracing five periods of law. Before the Organic Act of 1989, the health secretary appointed provincial health officers to a region and assigned them to provinces. After the organic act but before the 1991 Local Government Code, the 1984 code still governed the region, and the health secretary retained that power because the regional health offices were not yet transferred; the transfer came only with Executive Order No. 133 on October 29, 1993.

On the regional code, the Court held that an ordinary statute cannot amend an organic act that the Constitution allows to be changed only through a plebiscite, and it quoted the amendatory clause above. It further held that the regional code's provisions on the provincial health officer must be read consistently with the organic act's guarantee against diminishing powers already enjoyed by local government units, so that the Regional Governor holds only a recommendatory prerogative. The power to appoint the provincial health officer belongs to the Provincial Governor, and the designation of Pandi by the regional health secretary was without authority.

Doctrine

First, the power to appoint the provincial health officer is vested in the Provincial Governor under the Local Government Code of 1991, and the Regional Governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has only a recommendatory prerogative. Second, an ordinary statute, general or special, cannot amend an organic act creating an autonomous region; any amendment must pass through the plebiscite required by the organic act itself. Third, regional autonomy cannot be used to diminish powers and functions already enjoyed by local government units.

Disposition

The Supreme Court granted the petition, set aside the decision and resolution of the Court of Appeals, and dismissed Saber's petition for quo warranto.

Remember This

Memorize this line: an ordinary statute cannot amend an organic act, which may be changed only through the plebiscite it prescribes. Examiners use this case to test the hierarchy between the Organic Act of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Local Government Code, and the appointing power over the provincial health officer.