Title
Javier vs. Court of Appeals
Case
G.R. No. L-49065
Decision Date
Jun 1, 1994
Provincial Engineer's office abolished in 1974; petitioners claimed political motives, respondents cited funding cuts. SC ruled abolition valid but tainted by politics, awarding back salaries instead of reinstatement.
null and void
personal motives
political motives
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 160982)

Factual Background

The petitioners, along with Provincial Engineer Maximiano Sentina and forty (40) officials and employees of the Office of the Provincial Engineer, filed in the trial court a petition for mandamus and damages against the entire Provincial Board of Antique on 19 April 1974. Petitioners alleged that the abolition of the Office of the Provincial Engineer was a circumvention of the constitutional mandate on security of tenure. They further asserted that the abolition was intended to weed out provincial officials and employees who had opposed the Provincial Board’s candidacy in the 8 November 1971 elections.

Respondents denied these imputations. They maintained that the abolition was prompted by Presidential Decree No. 17, which lowered the internal revenue allotment to the road and bridge fund of the province from fifty percent (50%) to seventeen and one-half percent (17.5%). Respondents claimed the reduced allotment left insufficient funds for materials, salaries, and operating expenses of the Office of the Provincial Engineer.

In their defenses, respondents also argued that the Provincial Board possessed authority to abolish the office it could create. They further contended that petitioners failed to exhaust administrative remedies. Lastly, they insisted that mandamus was improper because the appropriation of funds for the Office was not ministerial; it lay within respondents’ judgment.

Trial Court Proceedings and Decision

The trial court ruled for respondents. It held that Resolution No. 206 (Series of 1973) was validly enacted. The trial court identified the “drastic decrease in the amount available for appropriation” as the principal factor that impelled the Provincial Board to abolish the Office. It also noted that resolutions of several municipal councils in Antique had called attention to alleged neglect in the maintenance of provincial roads.

As decreed, the trial court dismissed the petition and also dismissed the counterclaim, with no costs.

Court of Appeals Proceedings and Reversal

Petitioners sought reconsideration, which the trial court denied, and then appealed to the Court of Appeals. On 15 February 1977, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court. It ruled that the passage of Resolution No. 206 was prompted “in the main” by reasons other than those stated in the resolution itself. It found that the evidence on record adequately justified the charge that personal and political animosities between petitioner Sentina and respondents caused the Provincial Board to enact the questioned resolution.

The Court of Appeals granted relief through mandamus. It declared Resolution No. 206 null and void and ordered reinstatement of petitioners to the positions they held in the Office of the Provincial Engineer as of 30 June 1973. It directed respondents to appropriate amounts for maintenance and payment of back salaries from 1 July 1973 until reinstatement, with deduction of amounts petitioners received from other employment. It also ordered the payment of moral damages, exemplary damages, and attorney’s fees in specified amounts per petitioner, and directed further proceedings to determine the amounts allowable as back salaries. It assessed costs against respondents.

The Court of Appeals later denied the motion for reconsideration on 14 September 1978.

The Parties’ Contentions Before the Supreme Court

The Provincial Board filed the petition for review on certiorari, while Enrique A. Zaldivar, then incumbent governor of Antique, was allowed to intervene. Zaldivar argued that if displaced officials and employees were reinstated and paid back salaries from 1 July 1973, the required payments would cause “great sacrifice” to Antique’s development programs.

At the core of the Supreme Court review were two questions: whether the Provincial Board had authority under then-existing laws to enact Resolution No. 206, and whether that authority, even if existing, was legitimately exercised.

Private respondents argued that the abolition was constitutionally infirm and violative of General Order No. 3, relying on the alleged implications of Section 9, Article XVII of the 1973 Constitution. They contended that the provision allowed the policy and purpose behind General Order No. 3 to continue, consolidating in the President the power to appoint, dismiss, and control officials of both national and local governments during the martial law setting.

Petitioners, on the other hand, relied on the security of tenure rationale and their asserted political motive behind the abolition. They also invoked the factual dispute over the motives behind the Provincial Board’s action.

Authority of the Provincial Board Under Existing Law

The Court ruled first on the Provincial Board’s power. It recognized that Section 9, Article XVII of the 1973 Constitution conveyed authority to carry out a valid reorganization. It did not, however, treat the constitutional provision as an absolute proscription on local governments acting through their lawful powers to create or abolish positions, when the local government previously possessed such authority under governing statutes.

The Court identified Republic Act No. 5185 (Local Autonomy Act) as the statutory source of local government authority at the time. It noted that Section 18 empowered provincial governments to create the office of a provincial engineer. The statute did not expressly vest an explicit power to abolish the office. Yet the Court held that, absent contrary provision, the authority to abolish must be deemed included by implication in the power to create.

It further relied on Section 23 of the same Act, which stated that an “implied power of a province” should be liberally construed in the province’s favor, and that any fair and reasonable doubt should be interpreted in favor of local government and presumed to exist.

Accordingly, the Court held that the Provincial Board of Antique possessed the power to abolish the Office of the Provincial Engineer at the time the questioned resolution was enacted.

Legitimate Exercise of Authority: Motives and Good Faith

The Court then framed the decisive inquiry as the legitimacy of the manner and reasons by which the Provincial Board exercised its authority. The Court emphasized that abolition of an office was not per se objectionable. It became constitutionally and legally problematic only if pursued in bad faith.

The Court examined the record closely due to the divergence between the trial court and the Court of Appeals on factual findings. It found that evidence supported each tribunal’s own factual conclusions. On one side, there were valid reasons supporting the need to abolish the office. On the other, the Court could not discount that personal and political motives contributed significantly to the final decision of the Board.

The Court characterized the case as presenting circumstances where the abolition could have been justified, but the decision process involved “convexity of circumstances” that clearly influenced the Board’s action. Nonetheless, the Court stated that it was not prepared to conclude a “clear case of bad faith” against respondents given the peculiar factual setting.

The Court thus avoided fully endorsing the Court of Appeals’ finding of personal and political animosities as a determinative ground that amounted to a clear case of bad faith. Instead, it proceeded to fashion a remedy that balanced the equities with the subsequent developments in national and local government structures and the incumbency realities that had overtaken the situation since the removal of petitioners.

Equitable Remedy: Backwages in Lieu of Reinstatement

Although the Court stated that under ordinary circumstances it would have issued an order of reinstatement, it declined to do so in light of “multifarious and significant events” since the abolition, including changes in government structures and the offices and incumbents, as well as changes in the governing constitutional and statutory framework.

The Court adopted a monetary remedy rather than reinstatement. It held that private respondents were entitled to an award of backwages equivalent to five (5) years, without qualification or deduction, to be paid in lieu of reinstatement.

The Court supported this remedial approach by reference to prior cases. It cited Rubio, et al. vs. People’s Homesite & Housing Corporation, et al., where the Court had recognized reinstatement as correct in principle but later acknowledged the practical and fairness difficulties when years had passed since the termination. It explained that reinstatement may no longer be feasible due to the extended lapse of time, the likelihood that employees had found other employment, and age-related employability concerns. It also noted the unfairness of awarding back wages indefinitely without permitting proof of the salaries earned and efforts to find gainful employment during the period of separation.

It further cited Antiporda vs. Ticao (160 SCRA 40), which awarded backwages equivalent to five (5) years without qualification or deduction where reinstatement had become no longer feasible.

Ruling of the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court set aside the Court of Appeals decision. It rendered judgment ordering petitioners—or their incumbent successors in the Provincial Government of Antique—to cause the payment to private respondents of back salaries, computed as of the date of their removal, equivalent to five (5) years

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