Case Digest (A.M. No. 02-1-12-SC)
Facts:
In Re: Request of Justice Bernardo P. Pardo for Adjustment of His Longevity Pay, A.M. No. 02-1-12-SC, March 14, 2007, Supreme Court En Banc, Sandoval-Gutierrez, J., writing for the Court.
Petitioner Justice Bernardo P. Pardo (retired) wrote a letter dated 3 January 2002 asking the Court to adjust his longevity pay by including his service as Chairman of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in the computation of his continuous judicial service. He asserted two grounds: (1) that his aggregate public service amounted to more than 30 years of continuous judicial service because his appointment on 21 July 1971 as Acting Assistant Solicitor General carried the rank, salary and privileges of a Judge of the Court of First Instance and his subsequent public offices (district judge, RTC judge, Court of Appeals Associate Justice, COMELEC Chairman, and Supreme Court Associate Justice) together totalled 30 years and six months; and (2) that Section 3 of Batas Pambansa Blg. 129, as amended, treating reappointed members’ service as “continuous and uninterrupted,” applied generically to the “Court” and therefore to the entire judiciary (not merely the Court of Appeals), so that his reappointment to the Supreme Court after serving at COMELEC preserved continuity.
On 14 January 2002 the Court En Banc referred Justice Pardo’s letter to Atty. Eden T. Candelaria, Deputy Clerk of Court and Chief Administrative Officer, for comment and recommendation. On 15 January 2002 Atty. Candelaria recommended denying the request: she deemed the COMELEC an agency outside the judiciary and stated Section 3 of B.P. Blg. 129, as amended, expressly applied only to reappointments to the Court of Appeals.
The Court agreed with Atty. Candelaria that the COMELEC is an independent constitutional commission under Section 1, Article IX of the 1987 Constitution, and therefore not part of the judiciary; accordingly Justice Pardo’s first ground failed. The Court nonetheless accepted Justice Pardo’s construction of Section 3, B.P. Blg. 129, as amended: the word “Court” should be read generically to mean the Judiciary, so that a member reappointed to a judicial position after serving in another government post retains his precedence and his judicial service is considered continuous. Applying that construction to the undisputed chronology—resignation from the Court of Appeals on 16 February 1995; service as COMELEC Chairman 17 February 1995–6 October 1998; appointment to the S...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Is the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) part of the judiciary such that service there counts as judicial service for purposes of computing continuity for longevity pay?
- Does Section 3 of Batas Pambansa Blg. 129, as amended, which preserves precedence and treats service as “continuous and uninterrupted” when a member is reappointed to the Court after rendering service in another government position, apply so that Justice Pardo’s reappointment to the Supreme Court after serving in COM...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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