25/03/2024
SC: One-Year Appointment Ban on Losing Candidates Applies to Contracts of Service |
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitutional prohibition on the appointment to government positions within one year from the election applies to all losing candidates, regardless of the position and the place or jurisdiction of the office where they are appointed.
In a Decision penned by Associate Justice Jose Midas P. Marquez, the Supreme Court En Banc denied the petition for certiorari under Rule 64, in relation to Rule 65, of the Rules of Court filed by Raul F. Macalino (Macalino). The petition challenged the rulings of the Commission on Audit (COA) disallowing the payment of Macalinoโs wages and allowances as Legal Officer II of the Municipal Government of Mexico, Pampanga.
In denying Macalinoโs petition, the Court stressed that Article IX-B, Section 6 of the Constitution is clear that those who lost in the election are prohibited from being appointed to any government position within one year of such election.
Section 94(b) of the LGC likewise states that except for losing candidates in barangay elections, no candidate who lost in any election, within one year after such election, shall be appointed to any office in the government or any government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs) or in any of their subsidiaries.
The Court added that such prohibition is โa recognition of political willโit means that the people rejected the losing candidate and did not want him or her to occupy a public office. Thus, the electorateโs volition will be flouted if a candidate is immediately appointed to an office in the government after losing an election bid.โ
The Court also rejected Macalinoโs arguments that (1) the prohibition does not apply to contracts of service and (2) there was no violation because he was appointed as Legal Officer II in Mexico, Pampanga, and not in San Fernando City, Pampanga, where he ran and lost as vice mayor.
The Court stressed that both the Constitution and the LGC explicitly use the phrase โany office in the Government or any [GOCCs] or in any of their subsidiaries.โ
Read more at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/sc-one-year-appointment-ban-on-losing-candidates-applies-to-contracts-of-service/. Read G.R. No. 253199 at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/253199-raul-f-macalino-vs-commission-on-audit/.
