[ G.R. No. 192926. November 15, 2011 ] 676 Phil. 129
EN BANC
[ G.R. No. 192926. November 15, 2011 ]
ATTY. ELIAS OMAR A. SANA, PETITIONER, VS. CAREER EXECUTIVE SERVICE BOARD, RESPONDENT. D E C I S I O N
CARPIO, J.:
Before the Court is a petition for certiorari and prohibition assailing Executive Order No. 883, series of 2010 (EO 883),[1] which granted Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) rank to eligible lawyers in the executive branch, and a related administrative issuance, Career Executive Service Board (CESB) Resolution No. 870,[2] for violating Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution.
The Facts
On 28 May 2010, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (President Arroyo) issued EO 883 granting the rank of CESO III or higher to officers and employees “occupying legal positions in the government executive service who have obtained graduate degrees in law and successfully passed the bar examinations” (Section 1).[3] EO 883 invoked the granting of CESO “rank to government personnel who successfully complete certain graduate programs, such as Masters in Public Safety Administration (MPSA) and Masters in National Security Administration (MNSA)” as basis for the granting of CESO rank to government lawyers in the executive service.[4] On 2 June 2010, the CESB issued Resolution No. 870 finding no legal impediment for the President to vest CESO rank to executive officials during the periods covered by the constitutional ban on midnight appointment and statutory ban on pre-election appointment.[5] CESB Resolution No. 870 reasoned:
- In its legal sense, appointment to a position pertains to selection, by the authority vested with the power, of an individual who is to exercise the functions of a given office. 2. Appointment to a CES rank cannot properly be deemed synonymous to an appointment to a position in the legal sense for it is merely a completion of a previous appointment and does not entail the conferment of an authority to exercise the functions of an office. 3. In the CES concept, the word ‘appoint’ means a step in the bestowal of a CES rank, to which one is entitled after having complied with all the requirements prescribed by the CESB.[6] x x x x
The CESB subsequently endorsed to President Arroyo its recommendation to vest CESO rank to 13 officials from various departments and agencies, including three members of the CESB who signed CESB Resolution No. 870.[7] On 10 June 2010, President Arroyo appointed the 13 officials to varying CESO ranks.[8] On 30 July 2010, President Benigno S. Aquino III (President Aquino) issued EO 3 expressly revoking EO 883 (Section 1) and “[a]ll x x x administrative orders, proclamations, rules and regulations” that conflict with EO 3 (Section 2). As basis for the repeal, the fifth “Whereas” clause of EO 3 provides that “EO 883 encroaches upon the power of the CESB to ‘promulgate rules, standards and procedures on the selection, classification, compensation and career development of members of the Career Executive service x x x’ vested by law with the [CESB] x x x.”[9] On 4 August 2010, petitioner Atty. Elias Omar A. Sana (petitioner) filed the present petition, contending that EO 883 and the subsequent appointment of the 13 executive officials to CESO rank are void for violating the constitutional ban on midnight appointment under Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution.[10] Petitioner theorizes that appointments to positions and ranks in the CES are “executive” in nature and, if made within the period provided under Section 15, Article VII, fall under its prohibition. Petitioner submits that CESB Resolution No. 870 circumvents Section 15, Article VII by distinguishing the terms “appoint” and “appointment.” He contends that CESB Resolution No. 870 cannot give new meaning to presidential issuances, laws, and the Constitution.[11] In its Comment, the CESB prays for the dismissal of the petition as the issue it raises was rendered moot by EO 3’s revocation of EO 883. Alternatively, the CESB defends the vesting of CESO rank to the 13 officials based on an opinion given by Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan (Rafanan), head of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Law Department,[12] that “the appointment to a CES[O] rank is not equivalent to an appointment to an office since the latter entails the conferment of an authority to exercise the functions of an office whereas the former is merely a completion of a previous appointment.” Rafanan further opined that such vesting of CESO rank is valid because it “does not contemplate any hiring or appointment since it involves only the conferment of a rank rather than a selection for a position.”[13] The CESB agrees with Rafanan’s view, invoking Article IV, Part III, paragraph (c) of the Integrated Reorganization Plan (IRP), which states that “[a]ppointment to appropriate classes in the Career Executive Service shall be made by the President from a list of career executive eligibles recommended by the Board. Such appointments shall be made on the basis of rank.” Nevertheless, the CESB submits that the grant of CESO rank III or higher to lawyers in the executive service under EO 883 is “not automatic” because this needs prior guidelines from the CESB. The CESB points out that President Arroyo did not confer CESO rank to any official based on EO 883.[14] For its part, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), while disclaiming any authorization for the CESB to file its separate Comment, joins causes with the latter in praying for the dismissal of the petition for mootness. The OSG contends that President Aquino’s issuance of EO 3 revoking EO 883 moots the issue on the latter’s validity. The OSG arrives at the same conclusion on the issue of the validity of the appointment of the 13 officials to CESO rank in light of the CESB’s resubmission to President Aquino of its recommendation for the vesting of CESO rank to the same officials.[15] Alternatively, the OSG argues that EO 883 is unconstitutional for being violative of Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution. The OSG adds that even if EO 883 is valid, it does not automatically confer CESO rank to lawyers holding CES positions.16
The Court’s Ruling
We dismiss the petition on the threshold ground of mootness. The petition seeks a review of the constitutionality of EO 883 and CESB Resolution No. 870 for being repugnant to Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution. At the time this petition was filed, however, President Aquino had already issued EO 3 revoking EO 883 expressly (under Section 1) and CESB Resolution No. 870 impliedly (under Section 2). EO 883 and CESB Resolution No. 870 having ceased to have any force and effect, the Court finds no reason to reach the merits of the petition and pass upon these issuances’ validity. To do so would transgress the requirement of case and controversy as precondition for the Court’s exercise of judicial review. True, this Court had relaxed the case and controversy requirement to resolve moot issues. In those instances, however, the issues presented were grounded on peculiar set of facts giving rise to important constitutional questions capable of repetition yet evading review[17] or indicating intent on the part of potential or actual parties to place a constitutional question beyond the ambit of judicial review by performing acts rendering moot an incipient or pending justiciable controversy.[18] These factors do not obtain here. The question whether an appointment to a CESO rank of an executive official amounts to an “appointment” for purposes of the constitutional ban on midnight appointment, while potentially recurring, holds no certainty of evading judicial review as the question can be decided even beyond the appointments-ban period under Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution. Indeed, petitioner does not allege to have suffered any violation of a right vested in him under EO 883. He was not among the 13 officials granted CESO ranking by President Arroyo. The CESB itself stated that “no conferment of CESO rank was ever made by President [Arroyo] in relation to EO 883.”[19] Hence, for the Court to nevertheless reach the merits of this petition and determine the constitutionality of EO 883 and CESB Resolution No. 870 despite their unquestioned repeal and the absence of any resulting prejudice to petitioner’s rights is to depart from its constitutional role of settling “actual controversies involving rights which are legally demandable and enforceable.”[20] WHEREFORE, we DISMISS the petition. SO ORDERED. Corona, C.J., Velasco, Jr., Leonardo-De Castro, Brion, Peralta, Bersamin, Del Castillo, Abad, Villarama, Jr., Perez, Mendoza, Sereno, Reyes, and Perlas-Bernabe, JJ., concur.