G.R. No. 145368 – 430 Phil. 658 – 167 SCAD 425 – Political Law – Law on Public Officers – Who is a Public Officer
In 1991, then President Corazon Aquino created a Committee for the preparation of the National Centennial Celebration in 1998. When President Fidel Ramos took over, he reconstituted the said Committee as the National Centennial Commission (NCC). Salvador Laurel was appointed as the chairperson. Subsequently, the Centennial Exposition Project was constructed at the Clark Special Economic Zone.
After the centennial celebration, then Senator Ana Dominique Coseteng, in a privilege speech, exposed certain anomalies in the said Centennial Exposition Project. This eventually led to the filing of graft and corrupt practices charges against Laurel. The graft charges were referred to then Ombudsman Aniano Desierto. Laurel questioned the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman as he averred that the NCC is not a public office; that Laurel is not a public officer hence he cannot be charged with graft cases and the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction. Laurel avers that a public office is defined as follows:
A public office is the right, authority and duty, created and conferred by law, by which, for a given period, either fixed by law or enduring at the pleasure of the creating power, an individual is invested with some portion of the sovereign functions of the government, to be exercised by him for the benefit of the public. The individual so invested is a public officer.
From the above definition, Laurel insists that he is not a public officer because:
- He was not delegated any sovereign functions;
- He did not receive any compensation as chairman of NCC;
- His office has no security of tenure because the NCC is an ad hoc body which is coterminous upon the happening of the 1998 Centennial Celebration.
ISSUE: Whether or not Salvador Laurel is a public officer.
HELD: Yes. The Supreme Court ruled:
- Laurel’s office was delegated with sovereign functions. Based on the executive issuances which constituted and reconstituted the NCC, as well as various executive orders, it can be seen that the NCC was given executive functions, to wit: promote economic development particularly in Central Luzon to attract investors to mitigate the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, among others. Promotion of industrialization and full employment is a fundamental state policy.
- Even if Laurel did not receive any compensation it must be remembered that a salary is a usual but not a necessary criterion for determining the nature of the position. It is not conclusive. The salary is a mere incident and forms no part of the office. Where a salary or fees is annexed, the office is provided for it is a naked or honorary office, and is supposed to be accepted merely for the public good. Hence, the office of Laurel as NCC Chairman may be characterized as an honorary office, as opposed to a lucrative office or an office of profit, i.e., one to which salary, compensation or fees are attached. But it is a public office, nonetheless.
- NCC being defined as an ad hoc body is of no moment. The true test, regardless of the designation by the creating law, is that if a duty be a continuing one, which is defined by rules prescribed by the government and not by contract, which an individual is appointed by government to perform, who enters on the duties pertaining to his station without any contract defining them, if those duties continue though the person be changed, — it seems very difficult to distinguish such a charge or employment from an office of the person who performs the duties from an officer.
