G.R. No. 185112 January 18, 2010
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT (DOLE) and NATIONAL MARITIME POLYTECHNIC (NMP), Petitioners, vs. RUBEN Y. MACEDA, Respondent.

FACTS

Respondent Ruben Y. Maceda joined the National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP) in 1989 with a permanent appointment as Instructor I, rising to Assistant Professor I and Associate Professor I. He passed the bar in 1996 and was designated as OIC of the Maritime Training Division and as NMP’s legal counsel. In 1998, he was promoted to Professor I under a temporary appointment, which was renewed yearly from 2000 to 2003. On February 13, 2003, NMP advised him he would be placed under contractual employment from January 7 to June 30, 2003, pending CSC approval of the revised Qualification Standard (QS). His temporary appointment was renewed effective April 1, 2003, subject to meeting position requirements. Maceda was considered first priority for the Shipboard Rotation Scheme to gain required shipboard experience but did not avail himself of it. He applied for other vacant positions but was not appointed. On December 23, 2003, NMP informed him his appointment as Professor I would be renewed on contractual status from January 5 to June 30, 2004, which he accepted. On June 30, 2004, NMP informed him not to report for work the next day. Maceda filed a complaint with the DOLE, which was dismissed. He appealed to the CSC, which dismissed his case for lack of jurisdiction over the NMP Executive Director (a presidential appointee) and held that as a temporary and contractual employee, he did not enjoy security of tenure and failed to remedy his deficiency in shipboard experience. Maceda filed a special civil action of certiorari with the Court of Appeals (CA), which granted his petition, ordered his reinstatement as Professor I, and directed payment of back salaries and benefits. The DOLE and NMP filed the present petition.

ISSUE

1. Whether the CA correctly gave due course to Maceda’s special civil action of certiorari to correct alleged errors in the CSC rulings.
2. Whether the NMP illegally terminated Maceda from employment as professor.

RULING

1. The Supreme Court held that the CA erred in giving due course to the special civil action of certiorari. The proper remedy from a final order or resolution of the CSC on the merits is a petition for review, not certiorari. The distinction between the two remedies cannot be blurred. Certiorari is not a substitute for a lost appeal. Furthermore, the CSC did not commit grave abuse of discretion in dismissing Maceda’s complaint, as its findings were not made with patent arbitrariness or caprice.
2. The Supreme Court held that there was no illegal termination. Maceda held a temporary appointment that did not confer security of tenure. The NMP Qualification Standard for Professor I required, among other things, a two-year shipboard experience (on license) which Maceda admittedly lacked despite opportunities to comply through the Shipboard Rotation Scheme. His temporary and subsequent contractual appointments were terminable at the pleasure of the appointing authority. The non-renewal of his contractual appointment constituted an expiration of his term, not a dismissal. His accomplishments and teaching experience could not substitute for the prescribed qualification standards. The appointing authority also has discretion in filling other positions, and the court cannot interfere with that discretion.
The Supreme Court GRANTED the petition, REVERSED the CA decision and resolution, and REINSTATED the CSC Resolution dated March 7, 2007.