Title
Abaya vs. Civil Service Commission
Case
G.R. No. 98027
Decision Date
Oct 7, 1994
Employees challenged their exclusion from reorganized positions after failing to meet revised evaluation criteria; Supreme Court upheld the validity of the reorganization process and denied reinstatement.
reorganization
reinstatement
equivalent positions

Case Summary (G.R. No. 163509)

Factual Background: Reorganization, Placement, and Protests

Following the abolition of MAFO and the establishment of MAO, the Department implemented Memorandum Circular No. 7 issued in October 1987. Under that circular, only those who took the evaluation examination and qualified to the Personnel Placement List (PPL) were considered for MAO positions; former MAFO’s did not automatically become MAO’s. On 5 March 1988, petitioners took the Regional Personnel Placement Committee examination, qualified to the placement list, and were appointed MAO’s, with effectiveness “upon assumption of duty but not earlier than July 1, 1988.” Thereafter, aspirants who failed to qualify lodged protests with the RAB, prompting a second evaluation on 7 November 1988. The RAB issued Resolution No. 17, dated 7 November 1988, which modified the ranking in the PPL. As a consequence, petitioners Abaya, Cada, and Fulgencio were excluded from the PPL and were ousted as MAO’s.

RAB Resolutions and Civil Service Review

Petitioners Abaya, Cada, and other aggrieved parties, not including all of the present petitioners, filed a petition on 30 January 1989 seeking re-evaluation of their PPL standing. The RAB required submission of authenticated documents until 31 May 1989. On 26 March 1990, acting on the petition and on a separate request for evaluation filed by Alfredo Casimiro, the RAB issued Resolution No. 17-A. It affirmed the exclusion of petitioners Abaya, Cada, and Fulgencio, and further disqualified petitioners Presidio Carino, Ernesto Garcia, Remigio Pugat, Domingo Tobias, Bonifacio Molina, and others, from the PPL for failing to land in the first forty-eight places, which the Department treated as the number of slots needed to be filled.

Petitioners appealed the RAB orders to the Civil Service Commission, but on 28 September 1990 the Commission dismissed the appeal for lack of merit. A motion for reconsideration was denied on 8 February 1991, prompting the present petition for certiorari.

Intervention and Invocation of Pari-an and Sison

After the petition was filed, several incumbent MAO’s whose rankings were upheld by the RAB moved to intervene. Their motion sought to support dismissal of the case and to cite petitioners for contempt on the ground of forum shopping. In their later stance, however, the intervenors prayed that petitioners—specifically Jose Abaya, Aniceto O. Cada, Jr., Presidio M. Carino, and Ernesto J. Garcia—and others should be declared entitled to reinstatement to their respective positions as MAFO, now MAO, pursuant to the Court’s rulings in the Pari-an and Sison cases.

The petition’s context was anchored on the Court’s earlier decisions. The reorganization of the Department of Agriculture had been challenged in consolidated cases including Bustamante v. Dominguez and Dominguez v. Ligot-Telan, where the Court had ordered reinstatement of affected employees to their former positions or positions of comparable rank in the reorganized Department, with stated limits and exceptions. In Pari-an v. Civil Service Commission, the Court had discussed the Department’s memorandum circular on MAO appointee selection and had set aside the reorganization for non-compliance with E.O. No. 17 dated 28 May 1986, and with Sec. 2, par. (3), Art. IX of the Constitution and R.A. 6656. The Court had declared invalid the removal of former MAFO’s and ordered their reinstatement to their newly renamed positions as MAO’s under the new staffing pattern. The ruling was reiterated in Sison v. Civil Service Commission.

The intervenors thus argued that the present case was “on all fours” with Pari-an and Sison, and they sought reinstatement of certain petitioners to equivalent positions under the reorganized pattern.

Parties’ Handling of the Case and Developments Affecting Individual Petitioners

While the petition was pending, several procedural and substantive developments occurred. The Court noted that all petitioners failed to file memoranda, which led the Court to require explanations as to why disciplinary action should not be taken for that omission. Only Molina and Carino filed memoranda; Carino later withdrew as petitioner.

Separately, Cada was reappointed MAO in the Municipality of San Quintin, Pangasinan, on 1 April 1993, due to devolution of functions under the Local Government Code. The Court treated that reappointment to the same position, though by a different appointing authority, as constituting a reconsideration of the previous objection. It therefore held that the petition had become moot as to Cada.

The Court also observed that Abaya had not been heard of since filing. Fulgencio did not respond and did not pay the fine; the Court’s resolutions sent to her were returned with notations indicating her address was in the United States. Garcia paid the P500.00 fine and prayed to be dropped as petitioner because he had already become MAO of Pozorrubio, the position he had sought. Pugat had chosen a lower position as Sr. Agriculturist. Tobias had retired effective 5 May 1992.

Issues Limited to Molina and the Court’s Evaluation of Grave Abuse of Discretion

The Court treated the petition as surviving, in substance, only on the issues independently raised by Molina, rather than on the broad reinstatement theory urged through Pari-an and Sison. It found that Molina did not challenge the entire reorganization. Instead, he attacked the RAB orders dislodging him from the PPL.

Molina alleged that the RAB committed grave abuse of discretion in altering the ranking in the PPL. He argued that the same criteria were used in the first and subsequent evaluations and that the RAB reviewing board was essentially composed of the same members. He also contended that some protestants who were disqualified in the initial ranking later climbed dramatically in rank and dislodged him from the PPL. He cited specific instances, including an aspirant, identified as Alexander Alcantara, who allegedly received a maximum fifteen percent relevant experience despite being an AFT, and thus failed to qualify with the required salary range; and another individual, identified as Ernesto de Sola, who allegedly lacked supervisory and managerial experience but had the proper connections.

The Court held that Molina failed to show bad faith. It reasoned that Molina’s theory rested on the substantial advance in ranking of protestants who were disqualified in the initial evaluation. The Court found that, by the record’s account, the re-ranking resulted from the late submission of authenticated documents by some aspirants. It thus concluded that it was not improbable for the RAB to alter its findings despite the similarity of criteria and the composition of the reviewing board.

Molina likewise faulted the Civil Service Commission, including the RAB’s chair, for allegedly omitting to file comments in the Commission proceedings and for deciding beyond the period allowed by law. The Court ruled that such procedural delay or omission was not a sufficient basis to reverse the result. It acknowledged that delay was not countenanced, but it held that it could not justify granting the petition.

Treatment of Intervenors’ Motions and the Disposition

As to the intervenors, the Court noted that their motion was directed toward dismissal of the case and toward citing petitioners for contempt based on forum shopping. It held that they could not claim affirmative relief through their intervention in the manner they sought.

On the merits, the Court found “sufficient basis” to resolve the petition on the issues Molina raised, and it therefore did not need to dwell on other matters raised directly or indirectly.

Legal Basis and Reasoning; Doctrinal Takeaway

The Court’s reasoning proceeded from two principal lines. First, it clarified that although Pari-an and Sison had invalidated aspects of the Department of Agriculture

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