Civil Liberties Union (CLU) vs.

Executive Secretary 194

SCRA 317
CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, petitioner, vs. THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, respondent.

G.R. No. 83896 | 1991-02-22

Subject:

Constitutional Prohibition on Holding Multiple Offices; Positions held in Ex-Officio capacity; De Facto Officers; Statutory Construction of
Constitutional Prohibitions

Facts:

(Former) President Corazon Aquino issued Executive Order No. 284, allowing appointive officials of the Executive Department
(members of the Cabinet, their undersecretaries and assistant secretaries) to hold, in addition to his primary position, not more than
two positions in the government and government corporations and receive the corresponding compensation therefor.

The constitutionality of Executive Order No. 284 is being challenged by petitioners on the principal submission that it adds exceptions
to Section 13, Article VII other than those provided in the Constitution.

Petitioners further argue that the exception to the prohibition in Section 7, par. (2), Article IX-B on the Civil Service Commission applies
to officers and employees of the Civil Service in general and that said exceptions do not apply and cannot be extended to Section 13,
Article VII which applies specifically to the President, Vice-President, Members of the Cabinet and their deputies or assistants.

Held:

Constitutionality of EO 284

1. By ostensibly restricting the number of positions that Cabinet members, undersecretaries or assistant secretaries may hold in
addition to their primary position to not more than two positions in the government and government corporations, EO 284 actually
allows them to hold multiple offices or employment in direct contravention to the express mandate of Section 13, Article VII of the 1987
Constitution prohibiting them from doing so, unless otherwise provided in the 1987 Constitution itself.

Constitutional Prohibition on Holding Multiple Offices

2. The prohibition imposed on the President and his official family is all-embracing and covers both public and private office or
employment.

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3. It is quite notable that in all Constitutional provisions on disqualifications to hold other office or employment, the prohibition pertains
to an office or employment in the government and government-owned or controlled corporations or their subsidiaries. In striking
contrast is the wording of Section 13, Article VII which states that “(T)he President, Vice-President, the Members of the Cabinet, and
their deputies or assistants shall not, unless otherwise provided in this Constitution, hold any other office or employment during their
tenure.”

4. These sweeping, all-embracing prohibitions imposed on the President and his official family, which prohibitions are not similarly
imposed on other public officials or employees such as the Members of Congress, members of the civil service in general and
members of the armed forces, are proof of the intent of the 1987 Constitution to treat the President and his official family as a class by
itself and to impose upon said class stricter prohibitions.

5. While all other appointive officials in the civil service are allowed to hold other office or employment in the government during their
tenure when such is allowed by law or by the primary functions of their positions, members of the Cabinet, their deputies and
assistants may do so only when expressly authorized by the Constitution itself.

6. In other words, Section 7, Article IX-B is meant to lay down the general rule applicable to all elective and appointive public officials
and employees, while Section 13, Article VII is meant to be the exception applicable only to the President, the Vice-President,
Members of the Cabinet, their deputies and assistants.

Exception to Prohibition on Multiple Offices

7. The prohibition under Section 13, Article VII is not to be interpreted as covering positions held without additional compensation in
ex-officio capacities as provided by law and as required by the primary functions of the concerned official's office, namely:

(a)the Vice-President being appointed as a member of the Cabinet under Section 3, par. (2), Article VII; or

(b) the Vice-President acting as President in those instances provided under Section 7, pars. (2) and (3), Article VII;

(c) the Secretary of Justice being ex-officio member of the Judicial and Bar Council by virtue of Section 8 (1), Article VIII.

8. The term ex-officio means "from office; by virtue of office." It refers to an "authority derived from official character merely, not
expressly conferred upon the individual character, but rather annexed to the official position."

9. An ex-officio member of a board is one who is a member by virtue of his title to a certain office, and without further warrant or
appointment. To illustrate, by express provision of law, the Secretary of Transportation and Communications is the ex-officio Chairman
of the Board of the Philippine Ports Authority, and the Light Rail Transit Authority.

De Facto Officers

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10. During their tenure in the questioned positions, respondents may be considered de facto officers and as such entitled to
emoluments for actual services rendered.

11. It has been held that “in cases where there is no de jure, officer, a de facto officer, who, in good faith has had possession of the
office and has discharged the duties pertaining thereto, is legally entitled to the emoluments of the office, and may in an appropriate
action recover the salary, fees and other compensations attached to the office.

12. This doctrine is, undoubtedly, supported on equitable grounds since it seems unjust that the public should benefit by the services
of an officer de facto and then be freed from all liability to pay any one for such services.

13. Any per diem, allowances or other emoluments received by the respondents by virtue of actual services rendered in the
questioned positions may therefore be retained by them.

Statutory Construction

14. The qualifying phrase "unless otherwise provided in this Constitution" in Section 13, Article VII cannot possible refer to the broad
exceptions provided under Section 7, Article IX-B of the 1987 Constitution. To construe said qualifying phrase as such would render
nugatory and meaningless the manifest intent and purpose of the framers of the Constitution to impose a stricter prohibition on the
President, Vice-President, Members of the Cabinet, their deputies and assistants with respect to holding other offices or employment
in the government during their tenure.

15. Respondents' interpretation that Section 13 of Article VII admits of the exceptions found in Section 7, par. (2) of Article IX-B would
obliterate the distinction so carefully set by the framers of the Constitution as to when the high-ranking officials of the Executive Branch
from the President to Assistant Secretary, on the one hand, and the generality of civil servants from the rank immediately below
Assistant Secretary downwards, on the other, may hold any other office or position in the government during their tenure.

16. The Court in construing a constitution should bear in mind the object sought to be accomplished by its adoption and the evils if any
sought to be prevented or remedied. A doubtful provision will be examined in the light of the history of the times and the condition and
circumstances under which the Constitution was framed.

17. Moreover, it is a well-established rule in constitutional construction that no one provision of the Constitution is to be separated from
all the others, to be considered alone, but that all the provisions bearing upon a particular subject are to be brought into view and to
be so interpreted as to effectuate the great purposes of the instrument. Sections bearing on a particular subject should be considered
and interpreted together as to effectuate the whole purpose of the Constitution and one section is not to be allowed to defeat another,
if by any reasonable construction, the two can be made to stand together.

18. In other words, the court must harmonize them, if practicable, and must lean in favor of a construction which will render every
word operative, rather than one which may make the words idle and nugatory

19. Moreover, wherever the language used in the constitution is prohibitory, it is to be understood as intended to be a positive and
unequivocal negation. The phrase "unless otherwise provided in this Constitution" must be given a literal interpretation to refer only to
those particular instances cited in the Constitution itself.

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