544 Phil. 525; 104 OG No. 4, 525 (January 28, 2008)
SANDOVAL-GUTIERREZ, J.:
WHEREFORE, all premises considered:On appeal by respondent, the CSC En Banc, on June 17, 2002, issued Resolution No. 020828 reversing the assailed Omnibus Order of the CSC Regional Office No. IX, thus:
- The eighty-three (83) appointments issued by then Mayor Joseph Cedrick O. Ruiz, including those issued by the herein requesting parties, are, therefore not considered "mass appointments," as defined under CSC Resolution No. 01-0988 and are thus, VALID and EFFECTIVE.
- Memorandum Orders Nos. 1 and 2, Series of 2001, issued by Mayor Rodolfo H. Carreon, Jr., are hereby declared NULL and VOID, and accordingly,
- The LGU-Dapitan is hereby directed to pay the salaries and other emoluments to which the 83 appointments are entitled to pursuant to the appointments issued to them.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Omnibus Order dated August 17, 2001of the Civil Service Commission Regional Office No. IX isThe CSC En Banc held that the positions in question were published and declared vacant prior to the existence of any vacancy.
REVERSED and SET ASIDE. The Commission hereby rules, as follows:
- The approval of all 83 appointments issued by then Mayor J. Cedrick O. Ruiz is revoked for being violative of Republic Act No. 7041, CSC Memorandum Circular No. 18 s. 1988, as amended, CSC Resolution No. 963332 on its accreditation and CSC Resolution No. 01-0988.
- All promoted employees are reverted to their previous position; and
- Memorandum Order No. 1 and Memorandum Order No. 2 issued by incumbent Mayor Rodolfo H. Carreon, Jr. are hereby declared null and void.
SEC. 2. Duty of Personnel Officers. - It shall be the duty of all Chief Personnel or Administrative Officers of all branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities and agencies of the Government, including government-owned or controlled corporations with original charters, and local government units, to post in three (3) conspicuous places of their offices for a period ten (10) days a complete list of all existing vacant positions in their respective offices which are authorized to be filled, and to transmit a copy of such list and the corresponding qualification standards to the Civil Service Commission not later than the tenth day of every month. Vacant positions shall not be filled until after publication: Provided, however, that vacant and unfilled positions that are:The foregoing provisions are clear and need no interpretation. The CSC is required to publish the lists of vacant positions and such publication shall be posted by the chief personnel or administrative officer of all local government units in the designated places. The vacant positions may only be filled by the appointing authority after they have been reported to the CSC as vacant and only after publication.a) primarily confidential;
b) policy-determining;
c) highly technical;
d) co-terminous with that of the appointing authority; or
e) limited to the duration of a particular project,
shall be excluded from the list required by law.
SEC. 3. Publication of Vacancies. - The Chairman and members of the Civil Service Commission shall publish once every quarter a complete list of all the existing vacant positions in the Government throughout the country, including the qualification standards required for each position and, thereafter, certify under oath to the completion of publication. Copies of such publication shall be sold at cost to the public and distributed free of charge to the various personnel office of the government where they shall be available for inspection by the public: Provided, That said publication shall be posted by the Chief Personnel or Administrative Officer of all local government units in at least three (3) public and conspicuous places in their respective municipalities and provinces: Provided, further, That any vacant position published therein shall be open to any qualified person who does not necessarily belong to the same office with the vacancy or who occupies a position next-in-rank to the vacancy: Provided, finally, That the Civil Service Commission shall not act on any appointment to fill up a vacant position unless the same has been reported to and published by the Commission.
Petitioners admitted that after the retirement on April 22, 2000 of Beltran Faconete, the first-level representative to the Personnel Selection Board, no other first-level representative to replace him was chosen by the Dapitan City Government Employees Association. Yet, the city government Personnel Selection Board proceeded to deliberate and recommend the appointments of applicants to the 43 first-level positions. Petitioners contend, however, that although there was no such representative, the action of the Board is still valid.
- Official of department/agency directly responsible for personnel management;
- Representative of management;
- Representative of organizational unit which may be an office, department, or division where the vacancy is;
- Representative of rank-and-file employees, one (1) for the first-level and one (1) for the second-level, who shall both be chosen by duly registered/accredited employees' association in the department or agency. The former shall sit during the screening of candidates for vacancy in the first-level, while the latter shall participate in the screening of candidates for vacancy in the second level. In case where there is no employees' association in the department or agency, the representative shall be chosen at large by the employees through a general election to be called for the purpose.
SEC. 20. Notwithstanding the initial approval of an appointment, the same may be recalled on any of the following grounds:Verily, in deliberating and recommending to former Mayor Ruiz the appointments of herein petitioners to the vacant positions sans the required representation, the Board violated the above CSC Rules. Hence, the appointments he issued are not valid. They may be recalled. In Mathay, Jr. v. Civil Service Commission,[7] this Court upheld the authority of the CSC to take appropriate action on all appointments, including its authority to recall appointments made in disregard of the applicable provisions of Civil Service Law and regulations.
a) non-compliance with the procedures/criteria provided in the agency's Merit Promotion Plan;b) failure to pass through the agency's Selection/Promotion Board;c) violation of the existing collective bargaining agreement between management and employees relative to promotion; ord) violation of other existing civil service laws, rules and regulations.