A.M. No. 98-5-01-SC November 9, 1998
In Re Appointments dated March 30, 1998 of Hon. Mateo A. Valenzuela and Hon. Placido B. Vallarta as Judges of the Regional Trial Court of Branch 62, Bago City and of Branch 24, Cabanatuan City, respectively.

FACTS

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) submitted nominations for various judicial vacancies, including those for RTC Branches in Bago City and Cabanatuan City, to the Office of the President. A constitutional issue arose regarding whether the President could make appointments to the judiciary during the election ban period specified in Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution , which prohibits the President from making appointments two months before the next presidential election and up to the end of his term, except temporary executive appointments. The JBC had initially opined that this ban did not apply to the judiciary, a view not shared by the President’s office, as evidenced by prior Court of Appeals appointments dated March 11, 1998, a day before the ban commenced. Despite this, President Fidel V. Ramos subsequently signed the appointments of Mateo A. Valenzuela and Placido B. Vallarta as RTC Judges on March 30, 1998, squarely within the prohibited period. These appointments were later transmitted to the Chief Justice, prompting a referral to the Court En Banc to resolve the constitutional conflict.

ISSUE

Whether the appointments to the judiciary made by the President on March 30, 1998, during the constitutionally prohibited period under Section 15, Article VII, are valid.

RULING

The Supreme Court declared the appointments void. The Court harmonized the constitutional provisions, ruling that the specific prohibition in Section 15, Article VII (the election ban) constitutes an exception to the general duty to fill judicial vacancies within 90 days under Sections 4(1) and 9, Article VIII. The intent of the election ban is to prevent a President from making appointments for the purpose of influencing the election or committing vote-buying, a grave public policy concern. The Court held that this prohibition applies to all appointments, including those to the judiciary. The 90-day period for filling judicial vacancies is tolled or suspended during the election ban; the duty to appoint simply resumes after the ban’s expiration. Since the appointments of Valenzuela and Vallarta were indisputably made during the prohibited period, they were constitutionally infirm. The Court ordered the appointees to cease and desist from discharging their offices, without prejudice to their possible renomination by the JBC for consideration by the next President.