G.R. No. 86439 April 13, 1989
MARY CONCEPCION BAUTISTA, petitioner, vs. SENATOR JOVITO R. SALONGA, COMMISSION ON APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE, JUDICIAL AND BAR COUNCIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND HESIQUIO R. MALLILLIN, respondents.

FACTS

On August 27, 1987, President Corazon C. Aquino designated petitioner Mary Concepcion Bautista as Acting Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Subsequently, on December 17, 1988, the President extended to Bautista a permanent appointment as Chairman of the CHR. However, the Commission on Appointments (CA) required her to submit her appointment for confirmation, asserting that the position of CHR Chairman is among those appointments requiring its consent. Bautista, believing her appointment did not require CA confirmation, filed this petition for prohibition and mandamus. She sought to prevent the CA from proceeding with the confirmation process and to compel her recognition as duly appointed CHR Chairman without such confirmation.
The core dispute centered on the interpretation of Section 16, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution , which delineates the President’s appointing powers. Specifically, the issue was whether the appointment of the CHR Chairman falls under the first sentence, requiring CA confirmation, or under the second sentence, where the President appoints alone. The case followed the Court’s earlier ruling in Sarmiento III v. Mison, which held that only appointments to positions expressly listed in the first sentence of Section 16, Article VII require CA confirmation.

ISSUE

Whether the appointment of the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights by the President requires the confirmation of the Commission on Appointments.

RULING

No. The appointment does not require confirmation by the Commission on Appointments. The Court, reiterating the doctrine established in Sarmiento III v. Mison, held that only appointments to the four specific categories enumerated in the first sentence of Section 16, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution require confirmation by the CA. These are: (1) heads of executive departments; (2) ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; (3) officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain; and (4) other officers whose appointments are vested in the President by the Constitution itself.
The position of CHR Chairman is not included in this exclusive list. While the CHR is a constitutionally created independent office, the Constitution does not expressly vest the appointment of its Chairman and Members in the President under its specific provisions, unlike the Chairmen of the Civil Service Commission, Commission on Elections, and Commission on Audit, whose appointments are explicitly stated to require CA consent in their respective constitutional articles. Therefore, the appointment of the CHR Chairman falls under the second sentence of Section 16, Article VII, which authorizes the President to appoint “all other officers of the Government whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by law, and those whom he may be authorized by law to appoint.” The President’s authority to appoint the CHR Chairman is derived from Executive Order No. 163, a law which authorizes such appointment. Consequently, such an appointment is made by the President alone, without the review or participation of the Commission on Appointments. The petition was granted.