FIRST DIVISION
G.R. No. 210013, January 22, 2020
DANGEROUS DRUGS BOARD, PETITIONER, v. MARIA BELEN ANGELITA V. MATIBAG, RESPONDENT.
D E C I S I O N
CAGUIOA, J.:
Before the Court is a Petition for Review on Certiorari1 (Petition) under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court assailing the Decision2 dated July 18, 2013 and Resolution3 dated November 11, 2013 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 126310, which denied petitioner Dangerous Drugs Board's (DDB) petition for review under Rule 43 of the Rules of Court and affirmed the Civil Service Commission's (CSC) Decision4 dated April 10, 2012. The CSC found that respondent Maria Belen Angelita V. Matibag (Matibag) was illegally dismissed.
Records show that Matibag used to be the Chief of Policy Studies, Research and Statistics Division, DDB until she was appointed by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Deputy Executive Director for Operations (DEDO) with a rank of Assistant Secretary on January 5, 2007 and stayed as such until Office of the President Memorandum Circular (OPMC) No. 1 was issued.It appears that following the January 7, 2011 letter, Undersecretary Edgar C. Galvante, the Acting Executive Director of the DDB, issued a Memorandum dated March 2, 2011 addressed to Matibag, which states that "considering that you are a Non-CESO holder and covered by Memorandum Circular No. 2, you are hereby notified that your designation as DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS is terminated effective this date. This is without prejudice to your reappointment to the position and/or the final resolution of the propriety of the issuance of MC 2 by the Supreme Court."7
Covered by the foregoing memorandum are those Non-Career Executive Service Officers (Non-CESOs) occupying a Career Executive Service (CES) position in all government agencies who remain in office and continue to perform their duties and responsibilities until July 31, 2010 or until resignations have been accepted.
On July 16, 2010, the Office of the President issued the Guidelines Implementing Memorandum Circular No. 1,5 which states that "all non-CESOs occupying CES positions in all agencies of the Executive Branch shall remain in office and continue to perform their duties and discharge their responsibilities until July 31, 2010 or until their resignations have been accepted, and/or until their respective replacements have been appointed or designated, whichever comes first, unless they are reappointed in the meantime."
On November 2, 2010, Matibag sent a letter requesting clarification on the coverage of OP-MC No. 1.
In a letter dated November 23,2010, Matibag sought the opinion of the Commission [(CSC)] regarding her employment status. In response, the [CSC] in its letter dated November 30, 2010 cited the provision of Section 2 (3), Article IX-B of the 1987 Constitution which states that she enjoys security of tenure for being a holder of an appropriate Civil Service Eligibility. Thus, she cannot be removed or suspended except for cause provided for by law and after due process. The foregoing statement was also stated in the letter dated July 30, 2010 of Chairman Francisco T. Duque III, [CSC] to Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa, Jr., OP.
In a letter dated January 7, 2011, Executive Secretary Ochoa state[d] that:"Section 8, Chapter 2, Subtitle A, Title I, Book V of the Administrative Code of 1987 provides that entrance to CES third-level positions shall be prescribed by the Career Executive Service Board (CESB). Pursuant thereto, the requisite eligibility for a CES third-level position is not the Career Service Executive Eligibility neither the Career Executive Officer rank administered/conferred by the Civil Service Commission but the appropriate CESO rank conferred by the CESB. Applied to your case, you are covered by MC for being a non-CESO occupying a CES position."6 (Emphasis and italics in the original)
WHEREFORE, the complaint of Maria Belen Angelita V. Matibag for illegal dismissal is found to be meritorious and is hereby given due course. The Dangerous Drugs Board is ordered to reinstate Matibag as its Deputy Executive Director for Operations with payment of backwages from the time she was illegally dismissed up to her actual reinstatement.9The CA affirmed the CSC. The CA ruled that the CSC is the central personnel agency of the government mandated to establish a career service.10 The CA further ruled that Civil Service laws expressly empowered the CSC to issue and enforce rules and regulations to carry out its mandate and in the exercise of this authority, it may conduct examinations to determine the appropriate eligibilities in the Career Service including the Third Level positions.11
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the instant petition is DENIED. Accordingly, the Decision promulgated on April 10, 2012 in Case No. 120204 and Resolution promulgated on July 17, 2012 in Case No. 1201069 by the Civil Service Commission are hereby AFFIRMED in toto.DDB filed a motion for reconsideration, but this was denied. Hence, this Petition.
SO ORDERED.13
It appears that during the pendency of this Petition, Matibag took her oath of office as an Executive Director of the DDB on April 7, 2017. She therefore moved for the dismissal of the case as it has been rendered moot and academic.15 The DDB filed a Comment16 arguing that there remains a justiciable controversy as the case is capable of repetition yet evading judicial review.17 The DDB also argued that a novel issue remains: whether the CSEE conferred by the CSC is equivalent to the CES Eligibility conferred by the Career Executive Service Board (CESB).18I
A PERSON WITH A CSEE STILL NEEDS TO HURDLE THE TWO OTHER STAGES OF CES ELIGIBILITY EXAMINATIONS PRESCRIBED BY THE CESB TO OBTAIN THE STATUS OF A CES ELIGIBLE.II
[MATIBAG) DOES NOT POSSESS THE CES RANK APPROPRIATE FOR THE POSITION TO WHICH SHE WAS APPOINTED, THUS MAKING HER APPOINTMENT MERELY TEMPORARY.III
THE CIVIL SERVICE LAWS SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZE THE CESB TO PRESCRIBE ENTRANCE TO THE THIRD LEVEL (CES) POSITIONS.14
RESOLVED FURTHERMORE, that item no. 1.3.2 of Section 1, Rule VIII (Transitory Provisions) of the aforementioned Revised Integrated Rules on the Grant of CES eligibility (CESB Resolution No. 791 s. 2009) shall be amended herein, as follows:Here, similar to Feliciano and Gonzalez, Matibag only possessed the CSC's CSEE. She failed to prove that she has completed the last two stages of the examination process under CESB Resolution No. 811. Given this, she was not CES Eligible at the time she held the position of Deputy Executive Director for Operations, and did not enjoy security of tenure. Her appointment was temporary. As similarly held in Feliciano:
1.3.2 The Career Service Executive Eligibility (CSEE) conferred by the Civil Service Commission (CSC), which consist of two (2) phases, namely: Written Examination and Panel Interview, of one who is appointed to a CES position, regardless of the appointing authority or one who is occupying a Division Chief position in a permanent capacity or one designated to a CES position in an acting or OIC capacity for at least one (1) year, shall be considered equivalent to the two (2) of the four-stage CES eligibility examination process, namely: Written Examination and Board Interview. Hence, for purposes of conferment of CES eligibility and appointment to appropriate rank in the CES, as the case may be, the applicant concerned has to complete the two (2) remaining stages of the examination process, namely: Assessment Center and Performance Validation stages and comply with such other requirements as may be prescribed by the Board. (Emphasis and underscoring in the original)
x x x The effect is that their appointments remained temporary, a status that denied them security of tenure. According to Amores v. Civil Service Commission:Similar to Feliciano and Gonzalez, Matibag's termination from her position as Deputy Executive Director for Operations of DDB was therefore effective and valid.x x x An appointment is permanent where the appointee meets all the requirements for the position to which he is being appointed, including the appropriate eligibility prescribed, and it is temporary where the appointee meets all the requirements for the position except only the appropriate civil service eligibility.Clearly, the petitioners' termination from their respective positions at the DND was effective and valid.28 (Citation removed; emphasis in the original)
x x x x
x x x [V]erily, it is clear that the possession of the required CES eligibility is that which will make an appointment in the career executive service a permanent one. x x x
Indeed, the law permits, on many occasions, the appointment of non-CES eligibles to CES positions in the government in the absence of appropriate eligibles and when there is necessity in the interest of public service to fill vacancies in the government. But in all such cases, the appointment is at best merely temporary as it is said to be conditioned on the subsequent obtention of the required CES eligibility x x x
Endnotes:
1Rollo, pp. 11-31, excluding Annexes.
2Id. at 32-40. Penned by Associate Justice Franchito N. Diamante and concurred in by Associate Justices Celia C. Librea-Leagogo and Melchor Q. C. Sadang.
3Id. at 41-42.
4Id. at 43-49.
5 Amended by OP-MC No.2 moving the date from July 31, 2010 to October 31, 2010; see rollo, p. 13.
6Rollo, pp. 33-34.
7Id. at 113.
8Id. at 34, 48.
9Id. at 49.
10Id. at 35.
11 See Id. at 35, 37-38.
12Id. at 38-39.
13Id. at 40.
14Id. at 15.
15Id. at 207.
16 Comment (On Respondent's Manifestation with Compliance), Id. at 212-218.
17Rollo, p. 213.
18Id.
19Lacson v. MJ Lacson Development Co., Inc., 652 Phil. 34, 46 (2010), citing Integrated Bar of the Philippines v. Atienza, 627 Phil. 331, 336 (2010).
20Rollo, p. 39.
21Id. at 38-39.
22 G.R. Nos. 199232 & 201577, November 8, 2017, 844 SCRA 401.
23Id. at 411-412.
24 806 Phil. 967 (2017).
25Id. at 1000; emphasis and underscoring supplied.
26 AMENDATORY GUIDELINES ON THE APPOINTMENT OF CAREER EXECUTIVE SERVICE (CES) RANKS OF CAREER SERVICE EXECUTIVE ELIGIBLES (CSEES).
27 See Feliciano v. Department of National Defense, supra note 22, at 413-414.
28Id. at 414-415.