G.R. No. 103121 September 10, 1993
REMEDIOS T. BLAQUERA, et al., petitioners, CONRADO SALVADOR and MIGUEL CAISIP, Intervenors, vs. THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, HON. FULGENCIO S. FACTORAN, JR., as the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, HON. GUILLERMO N. CARAGUE, as the Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management, respondents.

FACTS

Petitioners and intervenors were permanent employees in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). They filed a petition for prohibition and mandamus to stop their removal pursuant to the 1987 reorganization under Executive Order No. 192. To carry out the reorganization, DENR Secretary Fulgencio S. Factoran, Jr. submitted a staffing pattern of 28,106 positions to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). The DBM, under Secretary Guillermo Carague, approved only 22,956 positions, excluding the petitioners’ positions. After a DENR request for a revised pattern of 24,614 positions, the DBM released a pattern of 23,612 positions, still excluding petitioners. Following a DENR request to restore 839 positions, the DBM approved them on September 14, 1988, but on the condition that these positions be “coterminous with the appointees but not to exceed three (3) years,” meaning the positions would be automatically abolished if the appointee left before three years, and the employee would be automatically separated after three years. Republic Act No. 6656 , passed on June 10, 1988, mandated completion of the reorganization by September 8, 1988, and protected the security of tenure of employees. DENR officials requested the conversion of these coterminous positions to permanent, which Secretary Factoran endorsed but Secretary Carague denied on December 19, 1990. The General Appropriations Act of FY 1991 provided salaries for these coterminous employees until December 31, 1991. Secretary Factoran requested an extension until December 31, 1991, which the Office of the President granted. As the request for reconsideration remained unacted upon, petitioners filed the present petition on December 19, 1991. The Court issued a temporary restraining order on December 27, 1991, directing the DENR Secretary to cease and desist from terminating the petitioners’ services effective December 31, 1991.

ISSUE

Whether the conversion of the petitioners from permanent employees to coterminous employees, leading to their impending dismissal, violated their right to security of tenure and the provisions of Republic Act No. 6656 , and was done without due process.

RULING

The petition is GRANTED. The removal of the petitioners and intervenors from office is declared null and void. The Court held that the conversion of the petitioners from permanent to “coterminous” employees constituted a wholesale demotion tantamount to removal without cause and without due process. The reorganization was not justified as it did not achieve economy or efficiency, evidenced by the new staffing pattern having 991 positions more than the total number of permanent positions before the reorganization. The respondent DENR Secretary (or successor) is ordered to reinstate the petitioners to their former or equivalent positions without loss of seniority and benefits and to issue regular and permanent appointments. The respondent DBM Secretary (or successor) is ordered to reinstate the appropriation for their salaries. The temporary restraining order is made permanent. The motion to cite public respondents for contempt is denied as moot.