G.R. No. L-77801 December 11, 1987
COUNCILOR RAFAEL A. REYES, petitioner, vs. HON. JAIME N. FERRER, Secretary of Local Government, NEMESIO L. RASGO, JR. and HON. AUGUSTO V. BREVA, Presiding Judge, RTC 10, Davao City, respondents.

FACTS

Petitioner Rafael A. Reyes, Jr. was appointed on November 25, 1985 as a member of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Davao City representing the Kabataang Barangay Federation, pursuant to the Local Government Code (B.P. Blg. 337), for a term of three years. Following the 1986 EDSA Revolution, the Provisional Constitution (Proclamation No. 3) provided that officials under the 1973 Constitution would continue in office until their successors were appointed within one year from February 25, 1986. On February 23, 1987, respondent Secretary of Local Government Jaime N. Ferrer designated Nemesio L. Rasgo, Jr. to replace Reyes.
Reyes filed a petition in the Regional Trial Court for declaratory relief, prohibition, and quo warranto, asserting his right to hold office until 1988. The respondent judge denied his plea for a preliminary injunction, ruling he had no cause of action, prompting this certiorari petition. The Solicitor General argued that Reyes’s term had expired by operation of the Omnibus Election Code and that the Kabataang Barangay organization had been effectively dissolved by a 1986 memorandum.

ISSUE

Whether the designation of Nemesio L. Rasgo, Jr. to replace petitioner Rafael A. Reyes, Jr. as the youth representative in the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Davao City was valid.

RULING

The Supreme Court granted the petition, ruling the designation of Rasgo was invalid. The legal logic proceeds from the supremacy of the 1987 Constitution . While the designation on February 23, 1987, was within the one-year period stipulated by the superseded Provisional Constitution, the 1987 Constitution had already been ratified on February 2, 1987, and took immediate effect, superseding all previous constitutions. Consequently, the authority to designate under the Provisional Constitution ceased.
The Court applied by analogy its ruling in De Leon v. Esguerra, which held that acts after the 1987 Constitution ’s ratification must conform to its provisions, including those ensuring local autonomy and security of tenure. The valid law governing the appointment was the operative Local Government Code (B.P. Blg. 337), which specifically required that the youth sector representative be the president of the Kabataang Barangay city federation. Private respondent Rasgo never held this position and thus lacked the essential qualification mandated by law, rendering his appointment void. Furthermore, the Court found the Kabataang Barangay was not extinct, citing a subsequent memorandum that only suspended appointments pending a final presidential decision on its status. Since Rasgo’s appointment was invalid, petitioner Reyes’s tenure could not be lawfully terminated. The respondent judge’s order was set aside, Rasgo was enjoined from performing the office’s functions, and Reyes was ordered reinstated.