Santos v.

Mallare Facts: Eduardo de los Santos was appointed City Engineer of Baguio on July 16, 1946 by the President of the Philippines. His appointment was confirmed by the C ommission on Appointments on August 6, and on the 23rd, he qualified for and beg an to exercise the duties and functions of the position. On June 1, 1950, Gil R. Mallare was extended an ad interim appointment by the Pr esident to the same position, after which, on June 3, the Undersecretary of the Department of Public Works and Communications directed Santos to report to the B ureau of Public Works for another assignment. Santos refused to vacate the offic e. The City Mayor and the other city officials ignored him and paid Mallare the salary corresponding to the position. Santos filed this quo warranto to questi on the legality of the appointment of respondent Gil R. Mallare to the office of city engineer for the City of Baguio which the petitioner occupied and claims t o be still occupying. Issue: WON the removal of Santos as city engineer as he was appointment, confir med and started to exercise his duties as such was legal Held: No. It is illegal and he should remain as city engineer. The position of City Engineer of Baguio belongs to the category of unclassified service. In Lacs on v. Romero, the Court held that officers or employees in the unclassified as w ell as those in the classified service are protected by Article XII, Sec. 4 of t he 1935 Constitution which states that no officer or employee in the Civil Servi ce shall be removed or suspended except for cause as provided by law. However, S ection 2545 of the Revised Administrative Code, which falls under Chapter 61 ent itled "City of Baguio," authorizes the Governor General (now the President) to r emove at pleasure any of the officers enumerated therein, one of whom is the cit y engineer. It is obvious that the aforequoted constitutional provision is contr ary to the provision of the RAC. And Sec. 2 of Article XVI of the Constitution d eclares that all laws of the Philippine Islands shall continue in force until th e inauguration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines; thereafter, such laws sha ll remain operative, unless inconsistent with this Constitution, until amended, altered, modified, or repealed by the Congress of the Philippines. The Constitut ion leaves it to the Congress to provide for the cause of removal, and it is sug gested that the President's pleasure is itself a cause. The phrase "for cause" i n connection with the removals of public officers has acquired a well-defined co ncept. It means for reasons which the law and sound public policy recognized as sufficient warrant for removal, that is, legal cause, and not merely causes whic h the appointing power in the exercise of discretion may deem sufficient. It is implied that officers may not be removed at the mere will of those vested with t he power of removal, or without any cause. Moreover, the cause must relate to an d affect the administration of the office, and must be restricted to something o f a substantial nature directly affecting the rights and interests of the public . Sec. 1 of Art. XII of the Constitution states that a Civil Service embra cing all branches and subdivisions of the Government shall be provided by law. A ppointments in the Civil Service, except as those which are policy-determining, primarily confidential or highly technical in nature, shall be made only accordi ng to merit and fitness, to be determined as far as practicable by competitive e xamination. The first clause is a definition of the scope of Civil Service, the men and women which section 4 protects. It seems obvious from that definition th at the entire Civil Service is contemplated, except positions "which are policydetermining, primarily confidential or highly technical in nature. Hence, the existing provisions at the time of the adoption of the Consti tution. Civil Service as embracing both classes of officers and employees posses sed definite legal and statutory meaning when the Constitution was approved. Sec tion 670 of the Revised Administrative Code already provided that "Persons in th e Philippine civil service pertain either to the classified service," and went o

n to say that "The classified service embraces all not expressly declared to be in the unclassified service." Then section 671 described persons in the unclassi fied service as "officers, other than the provincial treasurers and assistant di rectors of bureaus or offices, appointed by the President of the Philippines, wi th the consent of the Commission on Appointments of the National Assembly, and a ll other officers of the government whose appointments are by law vested in the President of the Philippines alone. The office of city engineer is neither primarily confidential, policy-de termining, nor highly technical. Every appointment implies confidence, but much more than ordinary confidence is reposed in the occupant of a position that is p rimarily confidential. The latter phrase denotes not only confidence in the apti tude of the appointee for the duties of the office but primarily close intimacy which insures freedom of intercourse without embarrassment or freedom from misgi vings of betrayals of personal trust or confidential matters of state. Nor is th e position of city engineer policy-determining. A city engineer does not formula te a method of action for the government or any its subdivisions. His job is to execute policy, not to make it. With specific reference to the City Engineer of Baguio, his powers and duties are carefully laid down for him be section 2557 of the Revised Administrative Code and are essentially ministerial in character. F inally, the position of city engineer is technical but not highly so. A city eng ineer is not required nor is he supposed to possess a technical skill or trainin g in the supreme or superior degree, which is the sense in which "highly technic al" is, we believe, employed in the Constitution. There are hundreds of technica l men in the classified civil service whose technical competence is not lower th an that of a city engineer. As a matter of fact, the duties of a city engineer a re eminently administrative in character and could very well be discharged by no n-technical men possessing executive ability.