G.R. No. 54597. December 15, 1982
FELICIDAD ANZALDO, PETITIONER, VS. JACOBO C. CLAVE, AS CHAIRMAN OF THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION AND AS PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT; JOSE A. R. MELO, AS COMMISSIONER OF THE …
AQUINO, J.:
This is a controversy over the position of Science Research
Supervisor II, whose occupant heads the Medical Research Department in the Biological Research Center of the
National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST).
Doctor Felicidad Estores-Anzaldo, 55, seeks to annul the decision
of Presidential Executive Assistant Jacobo C. Clave dated March 20, 1980, revoking
her appointment dated January 5,
1978 as Science Research Supervisor II and directing the
appointment to that position of Doctor Eulalia L. Venzon, 48.
The contested position became vacant in 1974 when its incumbent,
Doctor Quintin Kintanar, became Director of the Biological Research
Center. Doctor Kintanar recommended that
Doctor Venzon be appointed to that position.
Doctor Anzaldo protested against that recommendation. The NIST Reorganization Committee found her
protest to be valid and meritorious (p. 34, Rollo). Because of that impasse, which the NIST Commissioner
did not resolve, the position was not filled up.
At the time the vacancy occurred, or on June 30, 1974, both
Doctors Anzaldo and Venzon were holding similar positions in the Medical
Research Department: that of Scientist
Research Associate IV with an annual compensation of P12,013 per annum. Both were next-in-rank to the vacant
position.
Later, Doctor Pedro G. Afable, Vice-Chairman, became the
Officer-in-Charge of the NIST. Effective
January 5, 1978, he appointed Doctor Anzaldo to the contested position with
compensation at P18,384 per annum. The appointment was approved by the Civil
Service Commission.
Doctor Afable, in his letter dated January 20, 1978, explained
that the appointment was made after a thorough study and screening of the
qualifications of Doctors Anzaldo and Venzon and upon the recommendation of
the NIST Staff Evaluation Committee that gave 88 points to Doctor Anzaldo and
61 points to Doctor Venzon (p. 78, Rollo).
Doctor Venzon in a letter dated January 23, 1978, addressed to
Jacobo C. Clave, appealed to the Office of the President of the Philippines
(pp. 139-40). The appeal was forwarded
to the NIST Officer-in-Charge, Jose P. Planas, who reiterated Doctor Afable’s
decision appointing Doctor Anzaldo to the contested position (p. 63, Rollo). The appeal-protest was later sent to the Civil Service Commission.
Chairman Clave of the Civil Service Commission and Commissioner
Jose A. R. Melo recommended in Resolution No. 1178 dated August 23, 1979 that
Doctor Venzon be appointed to the contested position, a recommendation which
is in conflict with the 1978 appointment of Doctor Anzaldo which was duly
attested and approved by the Civil Service Commission (pp. 30 and 48, Rollo).
The resolution was made pursuant to section 19(6) of the Civil Service
Decree of the Philippines, Presidential Decree No. 807 (which took effect on
October 6, 1975) and which provides that “before deciding a contested
appointment, the Office of the President shall consult the Civil Service
Commission.”
After the denial of her motion for the reconsideration of that
resolution, or on January 5, 1980, Doctor Anzaldo appealed to the Office of the
President of the Philippines. As stated
earlier, Presidential Executive Assistant Clave (who was concurrently Chairman
of the Civil Service Commission) in his decision of March 20, 1980 revoked
Doctor Anzaldo’s appointment and ruled that, “as recommended by the Civil
Service Commission” (meaning Chairman Clave himself and Commissioner
Melo), Doctor Venzon should be appointed to the contested position but that
Doctor Anzaldo’s appointment to the said position should be considered
“valid and effective during the pendency” of Doctor Venzon’s protest
(p. 36, Rollo).
In a resolution dated August 14, 1980, Presidential Executive
Assistant Clave denied Doctor Anzaldo’s motion for reconsideration. On August 25, 1980, she filed in this Court
the instant special civil action of certiorari.
What is manifestly anomalous and questionable about that decision
of Presidential Executive Assistant Clave is that it is an
implementation of Resolution No.
1178 dated August 23, 1979 signed by Jacobo C. Clave, as Chairman of the Civil Service Commission and concurred in by Commissioner Jose A. R.
Melo.
In that resolution, Commissioner Clave and Melo, acting for the
Civil Service Commission, recommended that Doctor Venzon be appointed Science
Research Supervisor II in place of Doctor Anzaldo.
When Presidential Executive Assistant Clave said in his decision
that he was “inclined to concur in the recommendation of the Civil Service
Commission”, what he meant was that he was concurring with Chairman
Clave’s recommendation: he was
concurring with himself (p. 35, Rollo).
It is evident that Doctor Anzaldo was denied due process of
law when Presidential Executive Assistant Clave concurred with the
recommendation of Chairman Clave of the Civil Service Commission. The case is analogous to Zambales Chromite
Mining Co. vs. Court of Appeals, L-49711, November 7, 1979, 94 SCRA 261, where
it was held that the decision of Secretary of Agriculture and Natural
Resources Benjamin M. Gozon, affirming his own decision in a mining case as Director
of Mines was void because it was rendered with grave abuse of discretion and
was a mockery of administrative justice.
Due process of law means fundamental fairness. It is not fair to Doctor Anzaldo that
Presidential Executive Assistant Clave should decide whether his own recommendation
as Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, as to who between Doctor Anzaldo
and Doctor Venzon should be appointed Science Research Supervisor II, should be
adopted by the President of the Philippines.
Common sense and propriety dictate that the Commissioner in the
Civil Service Commission, who should be consulted by the Office of the
President, should be a person different from the person in the Office of
the President who would decide the appeal of the protestant in a contested appointment.
In this case, the person who acted for the Office of the
President is the same person in the Civil Service Commission, who was
consulted by the Office of the President:
Jacobo C. Clave. The Civil
Service Decree could not have contemplated that absurd situation for, as held
in the Zambales Chromite case, that would not be fair to the appellant.
We hold that respondent Clave committed a grave abuse of
discretion in deciding the appeal in favor of Doctor Venzon. The appointing authority, Doctor Afable,
acted in accordance with law and properly exercised his discretion in
appointing Doctor Anzaldo to the contested position.
Doctor Anzaldo finished the pharmacy course in 1950 in the
College of Pharmacy, University of the Philippines. She obtained from the Centro Escolar
University the degree of Master of Science in Pharmacy in 1962 and in 1965 the
degree of Doctor of Pharmacy.
Aside from her civil service eligibility as a pharmacist, she is
a registered medical technologist and supervisor (unassembled).
She started working in the NIST in 1954 and has served in
that agency for about twenty-eight (28) years now. As already stated, in January, 1978, she was
appointed to the contested position of Science Research Supervisor II. Her present salary as Science Research
Supervisor II, now known as Senior Science Research Specialist, is P30,624 per
annum, after she was given a merit increase by Doctor Kintanar,
effective July 1, 1981 (p. 259, Rollo).
On the other hand, Doctor Venzon finished the medical course in
the University of Santo Tomas in 1957.
She started working in the NIST in 1960. She has been working in that agency for more
than twenty-one (21) years. Doctor
Anzaldo is senior to her in point of service.
Considering that Doctor Anzaldo has competently and
satisfactorily discharged the duties of the contested position for more than four
(4) years now and that she
is qualified for that position, her appointment should be upheld. Doctor
Venzon’s protest should be dismissed.
WHEREFORE, the decision of respondent Clave dated March 20,
1980 is set aside, and petitioner Anzaldo’s promotional appointment to the
contested position is declared valid. No
costs.
SO ORDERED.
Makasiar, (Chairman), Guerrero, Abad Santos, and Escolin, JJ., concur.
Concepcion, Jr., J., no part.
De Castro, J., in the result.