Case Digest (G.R. No. 96938)
Case Digest (G.R. No. 96938)
Facts:
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) v. Civil Service Commission, Heirs of Elizar Namuco, and Heirs of Eusebio Manuel, G.R. No. 96938, October 15, 1991, Supreme Court En Banc, Narvasa, J., writing for the Court.
In May 1981 the GSIS dismissed six employees as "notoriously undesirable" allegedly for connection with irregularities in the canvass of supplies and materials, relying on Article IX of Presidential Decree No. 807 and certain LOIs. The employees' motion for reconsideration was denied by GSIS. Five of the six appealed to the Merit Systems Board, which held the dismissals illegal because they were effected without formal charges or opportunity to answer, and remanded the cases to GSIS for appropriate disciplinary proceedings.
The GSIS appealed to the Civil Service Commission (CSC). By Resolution dated October 21, 1987 the CSC ruled the dismissals illegal and directed GSIS to reinstate the five with payment of back salaries and benefits within ten days, and to terminate the services of their replacements. GSIS sought relief in the Supreme Court (earlier petitions G.R. Nos. 80321-22). On July 4, 1988 the Court’s Second Division denied GSIS’s petition for lack of grave abuse, upheld reinstatement but modified the CSC resolution by eliminating payment of back salaries until the outcome of disciplinary proceedings, and ordered reinstatement only of three employees because Elizar Namuco and Eusebio Manuel had died.
After the Second Division’s resolution became final (January 8, 1990), the heirs of Namuco and Manuel moved for execution of the CSC’s October 21, 1987 resolution. The GSIS opposed, contending that the CSC lacked power to execute its judgments and that any writ of execution would be void since it conflicted with the Supreme Court’s July 4, 1988 Resolution. The CSC granted the motion by Order dated June 20, 1990 directing GSIS to pay the compulsory heirs of the deceased for the period from illegal separation to date of demise. GSIS’s motion for reconsideration of the CSC order was denied on November 22, 1990.
GSIS then filed a petition with the Supreme Court (seeking certiorari) to nullify the CSC Orders of June 20, 1990 and November 22, 1990, arguing (1) the CSC lacks execution power, and (2) the June 20 order was void because it varied the Court’s own July 4, 1988 Resolution which had withheld back pay pending disciplinary proceedings.
Issues:
- Does the Civil Service Commission, as a constitutional commission, have the power to execute or order execution of its decisions, orders or resolutions?
- Is the CSC’s June 20, 1990 order directing GSIS to pay the compulsory heirs of deceased employees for the period from illegal separation to the date of death void or invalid because it conflicts with the Supreme Court Second Division’s July 4, 1988 Resolution which eliminated payment of back salaries until the outcome of disciplinary proceedings?
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)