G.R. No. 16006. October 24, 1960
PERFECTO R. FRANCHE, ET AL., PETITIONERS, VS. THE HONORABLE PEDRO C. HERNAEZ, ETC., ET AL., RESPONDENTS.
LABRADOR, J.:
Secretary of Commerce and Industry to authorize the payment of the full salaries
to which petitioners are entitled under their old positions in the National
Economic Council within the amounts appropriated for each and every one of them
in the new positions integrated for them into the Bureau of the Census and
Statistics in the Appropriation Act of 1958, known as Republic Act No. 2080, or
require payment of their salary differentials between what was prescribed for
them in their integrated positions and those actually paid them by order of the
Secretary of Commerce and Industry.
It appears from the petition that petitioners herein were, prior to June 30,
1958, employees of what is known as the Statistical Survey Project, a joint
special undertaking of some Philippine Government agencies having primary
responsibility for and specific interests in various fields of statistics in
cooperation with a team of United States statistical technicians. The Government
agencies involved were the National Economic Council as the coordinating agency;
the Bureau of the Census and Statistics as the primary operating agency; and the
Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Department of Labor, the
Bureau of Commerce of the Department of Commerce and Industry, and the Economic
Research Department of the Central Bank as the main cooperating agencies.
Personnel in said projects were originally paid for from counterpart funds and
Philcusa special appropriations. During the latter part of 1955, the Director of
the project developed a budget covering peso financing requirements during the
third and fourth quarters of 1956. The budget was processed by the National
Economic Council and paid for under its special (lump sum) appropriation.
Budgetary support for the Statistical Survey Project would terminate on June
30,1958, so its Director, on August 15, 1957, requested the National Economic
Council to recommend to the Budget Commission the incorporation of the
sub-projects of the Statistical Survey Project into the regular budgets of the
operating Government entity concerned. The entity concerned in the case at bar
is the Bureau of the Census and Statistics.
On August 29, 1957, the National Economic Council approved in its meeting,
the above request for integration and, thereupon, forwarded an official request
for said integration, thru the Budget Commissioner to the President of the
Philippines (Annex “B” to Petition). The Budget Commissioner approved this
integration and the positions of the petitioners were inserted or integrated
into the appropriation for the Bureau of the Census and Statistics for the
fiscal year 1958-1959. This appropriation was approved and is contained in the
appropriation act for that year, Republic Act No. 2080.
On June 30, 1958, the Director of the Statistical Survey Project requested
information from the Commissioner of Civil Service whether there was need of
issuing any appointments in favor of the incumbents of the integrated positions,
calling attention to the fact that said incumbents hold appointments duly
approved by all the offices concerned. The Commissioner of Civil Service replied
that there was no need of new appointments since the appointments of these
employees, whose positions had been integrated, had previously been approved.
The Commissioner of Civil Service suggested that submission of the appointments
in plantilla form would be sufficient. The Commissioner of the Budget also
agreed to such a proceeding on the ground that the incumbents, the petitioners
herein whose positions were integrated into the appropriation for the Bureau of
the Census and Statistics effective July 1, 1958, “had been appointed in the
National Economic Council and their appointments were duly approved.” The
Commissioner, therefore, suggested that the transfer of the employees concerned
be effected only by agreement between the Chairman of the National Economic
Council and the Secretary of Commerce and Industry.
The above proceedings for integration and transfer of employees from the
National Economic Council to the Bureau of the Census and Statistics had been
previously approved by the Cabinet. On August 8,1958, the Secretary of Commerce
and Industry issued and gave due course to new appointments in favor of the 84
petitioners herein as incumbents of positions integrated with the Bureau of the
Census and Statistics, but at reduced rates or salaries. The
Commissioner of Civil Service had previously ruled on August 5, 1958 that those
employees who had been issued permanent appointments in accordance with the
existing Civil Service Law and rules and whose appoint-ments had been duly
approved by the authorities concerned, may not be separated from the service nor
reduced in pay or rank except as provided for by law (Annex “S”).
Notwithstanding this ruling of the Commissioner of Civil Service, the Secretary
of Commerce and Industry, in an indorsement dated August 12, 1958, held that the
appropria-tion act for 1958 (Republic Act No. 2080), does not provide for
automatic transfer to or integration with the Bureau of the Census and
Statistics, of the personnel covered by the Government Statistical Survey
Project and, therefore, new appointments should be issued by him, these
appointments to be made in favor only of those found qualified under existing
laws. He further argued that the salaries appropriated for the positions in the
Statistical Survey Project were higher than the salaries of the Director and the
Assistant Director of the Bureau of the Census and Statistics, and to allow
higher salaries for those in the integrated statistical projects would result in
disparity of salaries and a violation of the salary law. He therefore, ruled
that there should be an adjustment in the salaries of the integrated positions
in accordance with WAPCO salary ranges (Annex “W”).
The Commissioner of the Budget for his part stated that the integration
affected not only the personnel but also the positions, and further declared
that the reduction in their pay could not be effected. The matter was thereupon
submitted to the Cabinet which, at its meeting on December 3, 1958, decided “as
a temporary measure, to detail these employees with the National Economic
Council at the rates of salaries they were receiving before their integration
with the Bureau of Census and Statistics, to undertake projects thereat, until
Congress shall have made the necessary adjustment in the next budget on this
matter/’ (Annex “X”.) Pursuant to the said resolution the Chairman of the
National Economic Council suggested to the Secretary of Commerce and Industry
that the decision of the Cabinet be carried out and the salaries of the
personnel concerned be paid at the rates duly approved at the time of the
integration (Annex “Y”). Notwithstanding all these, the Secretary of Commerce
and Industry adhered to his decision. On June 10, 1959, the same subject of the
salaries of the integrated positions under Republic Act No. 2080 having been
submitted to the President, the latter directed that the salaries of officials
and employees be paid them on the basis of their approved appointments under the
National Economic Council without the need of issuing new appointments. (Annexes
“BB”, “CC” and “DD”.) Notwithstanding this ruling the Secretary of Commerce and
Industry persisted in his opinion and refused to make payments as authorized in
the budget and approved by the Cabinet and by the President.
The above facts indicate that petitioners herein were employees of the
National Economic Council prior to July 1,1958, holding positions by virtue of
regular appointments. This fact is attested to not only by the indorsements of
the Commissioner of the Civil Service but also by that of the Commissioner of
the Budget. The plantilla annexed to the petition indicating the positions that
were integrated into the appropriation act for 1958-1959 shows that the
petitioners have civil service qualifications (see Annex “H-2”), with the
exception of Florence B. Ritualo, who was not reappointed because she is not
eligible; Wilhelmina O. Caldito, not a qualified civil service eligible;
Inocencio Sedukis, also not a qualified civil service eligible and whose
services were refused; Domingo Velasquez, not reappointed because not a civil
service eligible; and Vicente Mariano, who rendered service from July 1 to 15
but was suspended by the Civil Service and was never reinstated.
The National Economic Council is an office in the Executive Branch of the
Government of the Philippines (Commonwealth Act No. 2). Employees thereof are
embraced within the Philippine Civil Service. So are those paid from counterpart
funds as these were appointed with the concurrence of the Commissioner of the
Civil Service and the Commissioner of the Budget. The opinion of the Secretary
of Commerce and Industry that the incorporation of the positions of the
petitioners in the budget for the fiscal year 1958-1959 is not an automatic
integration and that, consequently, new appointments must be made for them, is
without merit. The petitioners were already employees in the Civil Service at
the time of the approval of the appropriation act for 1958-1959. The various
steps culminating in the approval of the integration in the appropriation act
were made with a view to actual integration, without any further need of new
appointments by the Secretary of Commerce and Industry. The integration or
transfer of the positions from the National Economic Council to the Bureau of
the Census and Statistics did not have the effect of depriving petitioners of
their status as employees in the Philippine Civil Service, or make their
salaries subject to reduction at the will and by action of the Secretary of
Commerce and Industry. Since the appropriation act carried the same salaries
that they used to receive in the National Economic Council, the legislative
intent is clear that it intended to grant them the same salaries. The Cabinet
and the President had authorized the payment of the salaries in the meanwhile.
Their action can not be countermanded by the Secretary of Commerce and Industry
who is a mere subordinate of the President.
Hence, the position of the Secretary of Commerce and Industry cannot be
sustained. It follows as a consequence that as the petitioners herein, with the
exception of the five who were not reappointed because of lack of civil service
qualifications and other valid reasons, hold civil service positions with
salaries therefor appropriated in the appropriation act for 1958-1959, which
salaries were the same as what they used to receive while the Statistical Survey
Project to which they belonged was still under the National Economic Council,
they are entitled to the salaries provided in the said appropriation act, and
the refusal by the Secretary of Commerce and Industry to authorize payment of
said salaries is a violation of their rights and privileges as civil service
employees.
Wherefore, it is hereby declared that the petitioners, with the exception of
the five above-mentioned, are entitled to receive the salaries for the positions
they hold as provided in the appropriation act for 1958-1959, and so the writ of
mandamus prayed for is granted and the respondents are hereby ordered to pay
petitioners their salary differentials as indicated in the plantilla of
personnel attached to the petition as Annex “H-2”. The petitions of Florence B.
Ritualo, Wilhelmina O. Caldito, Inocencio Sedukis, Domingo Velasquez and Vicente
Mariano are hereby dismissed. Without costs.
Paras, C. J., Bengzon, Padilla, Bautista Angelo, Reyes, J.B.L., Barrera,
Gutierrez David and Paredes, JJ., concur.
Writ granted in part and denied in part.