GR L 23301; (February, 1966) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-23301 February 28, 1966.
CELESTINO E. ESUERTE, MARIA BITOY, HONORATO LUTERO, and ANATOLIO BARCENA, petitioners-appellants, vs. DELFIN JAMPAYAS, EULOGIO VIAJEDOR, DEMETRIO B. HECHANOVA, ANTONIO MACADANGDANG, RICARDO BITOY, FRANCISCO ESQUIERDA and HON. SALVADOR MARINO, in his capacity as Executive Secretary, respondents-appellees.
FACTS
Prior to June 1, 1961, petitioners Celestino Esuerte, Maria Bitoy, Honorato Lutero, and Anatolio Barcena were designated in an acting capacity as Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Councilors of Mawab, Davao, by President Carlos P. Garcia. They received ad interim appointments dated June 1, 1961, but took their oaths of office in January 1962. Uncontradicted testimony established that these appointments were part of a batch processed on December 25, 1961, and received by the Commission on Appointments on December 29, 1961, though made to appear dated earlier. They were confirmed on April 27, 1962. However, on December 30, 1961, President Diosdado Macapagal issued Administrative Order No. 2 revoking ad interim appointments made by his predecessor after December 13, 1961. Subsequently, on January 25, 1963, President Macapagal designated the respondents as the new acting municipal officials of Mawab. The petitioners filed an action for prohibition and quo warranto, which was dismissed by the Court of First Instance of Davao.
ISSUE
Whether the petitioners’ ad interim appointments are valid or are instead covered by the revocation under Administrative Order No. 2 as “midnight appointments.”
RULING
The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s decision, ruling against the petitioners. The Court found that the petitioners’ appointments, though dated June 1, 1961, were actually processed and transmitted at the end of December 1961, as corroborated by their own conduct in taking their oaths only in January 1962. Consequently, these appointments were deemed part of the “midnight” appointments issued by the outgoing administration, which are covered by the rule established in Aytona vs. Castillo and Rodriguez vs. Quirino. As such, they were validly revoked by President Macapagal’s Administrative Order No. 2. The Court also noted that the municipality of Mawab was created by executive order, a power later ruled eliminated by the Constitution, but this point was ancillary to the main ruling on the appointments.