G.R. No. L-20158 October 14, 1968
CANDELARIO ALMENDRAS, TIMOTEO T. OMAY, ET AL., petitioners-appellees, vs. AMADO DEL ROSARIO, ET AL., respondents, AMADO DEL ROSARIO as Commissioner of Civil Service, respondent-appellant.

FACTS

A decision was promulgated on July 29, 1968, reversing a lower court’s ruling that the City Mayor of Cebu had the power to appoint officers and employees of the Osmeña Waterworks System and ordering the Civil Service Commissioner to attest to those appointments. The Supreme Court’s decision declared the Mayor’s appointments invalid but ordered the City Treasurer and City Auditor to pay the salaries of the appointees who had rendered service from their appointment dates. For those appointed by the City Mayor, payment was ordered only until the decision became final, unless they were reappointed by competent authority afterward. The City Treasurer filed a motion for clarification, claiming the judgment was ambiguous.

ISSUE

Whether the Supreme Court’s decision of July 29, 1968, requires clarification regarding the payment of salaries to the petitioners appointed by the City Mayor of Cebu.

RULING

The Supreme Court denied the motion for clarification, holding that the decision was clear. It clarified that the City Mayor of Cebu lacked authority to appoint officers and employees of the Osmeña Waterworks System. Consequently, the appointments made by him were nullified. However, the employees who were appointed by the Mayor and had actually rendered service were entitled to payment of their salaries from their appointment dates only until the finality of the Supreme Court’s decision. This ruling was without prejudice to their possible reappointment by competent authority immediately after the decision became final.