Chapter Eight

Termination of Official Relations

( Acceptance of an Incompatible Office, Abandonment of Office)
 By acceptance of an incompatible or
prohibited office
It is contrary to the policy of the law that the same individual should
undertake to perform inconsistent and incompatible duties.
If the law or Constitution as an expression of public policy forbids the
acceptance by a public officer of any other office other than that which he
holds, it is not a case of incompatibility but of legal or constitutional
prohibition
 When offices incompatible with each
other
1. There is conflict in such duties and functions
2. One is subordinate to the other and is subject in some degree to its
supervisory power.
3. The Constitution or the law itself, for reasons of public policy, declares the
incompatibility even though there is no inconsistency in the nature and
functions of the offices.
 Exceptions to rule on holding
incompatible offices
1. Where the officer cannot vacate the first office by his own act, upon the
principle that he will not be permitted to.
2. Where the first office is held under a different government form that which
conferred the second.
3. Where the officer is expressly authorized by law to accept another office.
4. Where the second office is temporary.
 Meaning of Abandonment

It means the voluntary relinquishment of an office by the holder of all right,

title or claim thereto without valid or justifiable reason with the intention of
not reclaiming it, or terminating his possession and control thereof.
 By Abandonment of Office

1. A public office may become vacant ipso facto by non-user or acquiescence.

2. A statute may declare that the mere filing of certificate of candidacy for a
second office by the holder of one office operates as an abandonment.
3. Abandonment may also result from the intentional and completed
relinquishment of any claim to the office.
 When there is abandonment of office

1. Clear intention to abandon office

2. Acceptance another office
3. Concurrence of overt acts and intention
4. Failure to discharge duties of office, or to claim or resume it
5. Acquiescence by the officer