Preclaro vs Sandiganbayan, 247 SCRA 

454
Posted by Pius Morados on November 7, 2011
(Public Officers, Non-Career Service)
Facts: Accused is a project manager/consultant of the Chemical Mineral Division,
Industrial Technology Development Institute, Department of Science and Technology, a
component of the Industrial Development Institute which is an agency of the DOST.
He is to supervise the construction of the ITDI-CMD building, while the Jaime Sta. Maria
Construction undertook the construction. The structure is jointly funded by the Philippine
and Japanese Governments.

While the said construction has not yet been completed, accused either directly
requested and/or demanded for himself the sum of P200,000.00, claimed as part of the
expected profit of the contractor.

Petitioner was charged for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for
committing said offense in relation to the performance of his official duties.

Petitioner asserts in a petition for review that he is not a public officer because he was
neither elected nor appointed to a public office, but merely a private individual hired by
the ITDI on contractual basis for a particular project and for a specified period. Hence
the Sandiganbayan erred in taking cognizance of the case.

Section 2 (b) of RA 3019 defines a public officer to “include elective and appointive
officials and employees, permanent or temporary, whether in the classified or
unclassified or exemption service receiving compensation, even nominal, from the
government…”

Issue: WON a private individual hired on a contractual basis by the government is a

public officer.
Held: Yes. The word “includes” used in defining a public officer indicates that the
definition is not restrictive. The terms “classified, unclassified or exemption service”
were the old categories of position in the civil service which have been reclassified into
Career Service and Non-Career Service by PD 807 providing for the organization of the
Civil Service Commission by the Administrative Code of 1987.
A private individual hired on a contractual basis as Project Manager for a government
undertaking falls under the non-career service category of the Civil Service and thus is a
public officer as defined by Sec 2(b) of RA 3019.

Under Book V, Title I, Subtitle A, Chapter 2, Sec 6(2) of the Administrative Code of
1987, non-career service in particular is characterized by 1) entrance other than those
of the usual test of merit and fitness utilized for the career service; and 2) tenure which
is limited to a period specified by law, or which is coterminous with that of the appointing
authority or subject to his pleasure, or which is limited to the duration of a particular
project for which purpose employment was made.
Section 9(4) of the same provides that Non-Career Service It shall include Contractual
personnel or those  employment in the government is in accordance with a special
contract to undertake a specific work or job, requiring special or technical skills not
available in the employing agency, to be accomplished within a specific period, which in
no case shall exceed one year, and performs or accomplishes the specific work or job,
under his own responsibility with a minimum of direction and supervision from the hiring
agency.