Date: October 08, 2016

Topic: Acquisition of Title to Public Office

Reporter names: Do Ngoc Hung (Peter)
Subject: MPA PA 505
Professor: Fiscal Arturo King R. Trinidad, Jr.

ACQUISITION OF TITLE TO PUBLIC OFFICE

A. Modes of Commencing official relations

The manner of selecting persons for public office is generally by either:
a. Election
b. Appointment

B. Appointment
It is an act of designation by the executive officer, board, or body to whom that power
has been delegated, of the individual who is to exercises the powers and functions of a
given office
1. Where power resides

Inherently belongs to the people

Entrusted to designated elected and appointed public officials

a) Appointing power generally regarded as an executive function

Where power exercised by executive department

Where power exercised by other departments

b) Power to appoint discretionary

Power of court to review appointments

Power of Civil Service Commission to revoke appointment

c) Absolute or conditional nature of power

Absolute where the choice of the appointing authority is conclusive if it

falls upon an eligible person. No further consent or approval is necessary.
Conditional where assent or approval by some other officer or body,
such as the Commission on Appointments, is necessary to complete the
appointment.

2. Restrictions on the power to appoint

Generally - Persons to be appointed to a public office should possess the

required qualifications and be selected solely with a view to the public welfare.

a) When Appointment is complete

Not subject to confirmation

Subject to confirmation

Approval by the Civil Service Commission

Effects of completed appointment

b) Acceptance of appointment

Not necessary to completion or validity of appointment

Necessary to possession of office

c) Form of Acceptance

Express or when done verbally or in writing

Implied or when, without formal acceptance, the appointee enters upon
exercise of the duties and functions of an office

d) Written appointment

View that appointment should be evidenced by writing

Contrary view

3. Revocation of appointment

Where appointment final and complete

Where appointee has assumed position
Where protestant more qualified than appointee

C. President Appointments.
1. Confirmation by Commission on Appointments
a. Required
first group above
b. Unnecessary
heads of bureaus
certain offices under different departments which are not called bureaus
o
o

Securities and Exchange Commission example

Insurance Commission example

members of Supreme Court

judges of lower courts
Sandiganbayan
Tanodbayan (Ombudsman) ~ including deputies
chairman and members of the Commission on Human Rights Art. VII Sec. 16
2. Kinds of Presidential Appointments
a) as to manner in which it is made
regular made by Congress while in session; subject to confirmation by the
Commission on Appointments
ad interim made while Congress is in recess

b) as to its nature
permanent those which last until they are lawfully terminated
temporary or acting those which last until a permanent appointment is issued
3. Ad-interim Appointments
a) These are appointments made by the President while Congress is in recess,
thus, the Commission on Appointments may only deliberate upon such
appointments when Congress goes into session
b) The President is usually aided by the Commission on Appointments advice
when it comes to appointments. In case of ad interim appointments, however, the
President acts alone and the system of checks and balances vital to our system
of government is not in place
c) Ad interim appointments, however, are necessary due to the existence of
situations where there is a clear and present urgency caused by an impending
obstruction or paralysis of the function assigned to office to be filled if no
immediate appointment is made
4. Permanent, Temporary or Acting Appointments
a) Permanent One which is issued to a person who
meets all the requirements for the position including the appropriate eligibility
prescribed.
b) Temporary or Acting One which is issued to a person who meets all the
requirements for the position to which he is being appointed except the
appropriate civil service eligibility.
5. Steps in the appointing process
a) Nomination It is the exclusive prerogative of the President upon which no
limitation may be imposed by Congress, except those resulting from the need
securing the concurrence of the Commission on Appointments and from the
exercises of the limited legislative power to prescribe the qualifications to a given
appointive office.
b) Confirmation
The power to confirm and reject certain appointments belongs to Congress
through the Commission on Appointments since it is a check on the executive.
A confirmation cannot be reconsidered after the President has been notified of
the confirmation and has completed the appointment by issuing a commission
the appointee even if the rules of the confirming body provide for reconsideration
c) Issuance of Commission
Commission is the written authority from a competent source given to the
officer as his warrant for exercise of the powers and duties of the office. It is the
written evidence of the appointment

D. Appointments in the Civil Service

1. The Civil Service System
a) Scope all branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities and agencies of the
government including GOCCs with original charter. This covers the administrative
personnel of the entire government system, both national and local, including the
military.
b) Purpose to enable the national and local government and all its
instrumentalities and agencies to render more efficient services to the public by
enabling them to obtain efficient servants.
2. Classification of positions in the Civil Service
a) Career Service
Characteristics:
o

Entrance based on merit and fitness to be determined as far practicable

by competitive examinations or are based on highly technical
qualifications
Security of tenure

It includes:
o
o
o
o

Open career positions for appointments requiring prior qualification in an

appropriate examination
Closed career positions which are scientific or highly technical in nature.
Career officers other than those in the Career Service who are appointed
by the President
Permanent laborer, whether skilled, semiskilled, or unskilled.

b) NonCareer Service

Characteristics:
o Entrance bases other than those of the usual test of merit and fitness
o Tenure which is limited to a period specified by law or coterminous with
that of the appointing authority or subject to his pleasure or limited to the
duration of a particular project
Includes:
o Elective officials and their personal or confidential staffs.
o Department heads and other officers of cabinet rank and their staffs
o Chairmen and members of commissions and boards with fixed terms of
office and their staffs
o Contractual personnel
o Emergency and seasonal personnel

3. Merit of fitness rules/ Examination Based Qualifications

General Rule: The selection of any appointee to any government position shall be made
only according to merit and fitness to be determined, as far as practicable, by
competitive examinations to perform duties and assumes the responsibility of the
position, without regard to any other consideration such as sex, color, social status,
religion, orApolitical affiliation.

4. Type of Appointment
a) Career Service appointees are selected from the most qualified applicants,
based on specific job requirements, with special consideration to veterans and
DC residents (although District residency is not required)
b) Term Position - a term appointment can last from 13 months to four years, and
cannot exceed the termination date. Term positions can be filled up to a DS-12
level through the non-competitive hiring process.
c) Temporary Position a temporary appointment can last up to 12 months.
Temporary positions can be filled up to a DS-12 level through the noncompetitive hiring process. Employees in temporary positions receive no
benefits.
d)Excepted Service - There are several categories of employees within the
Excepted Service. The majority of these are employees on the personal staff of
the Mayor and employees serving in policy positions. Excepted Service positions
are filled non-competitively. Excepted Service employees are required to live in
the District, and have 180 days from the date of appointment to establish
residency.
e) Executive Service - The Executive Service consists of heads of agencies
subordinate to the Mayor. It was established to ensure that the executive
management of the District of Columbia government would be responsive to the
needs of the citizens and the goals of the government. The Mayor nominates
people to serve as agency heads, subject to confirmation by the Council.
f) Legal Service - The Legal Service is composed of attorneys in the Office of the
Corporation Counsel and attorneys employed by any other agency subordinate
to the Mayor. Preference is given to District residents.
g) Management Supervisory Service (MSS) appointees are selected from the
most qualified applicants, based on specific job requirements, with special
consideration to veterans and DC residents (although District residency is not
required). Employees in the MSS serve at-will.
5. Approval/recall of Appointments by the Civil Service Commission
a. Appointments required to be approved:
General Rule: The Civil Service Commission must approve all
appointments, whether original or promotional, to positions in the civil
service and disapprove those where the appointees do not possess the
appropriate eligibility or required qualifications.
EXPN: Presidential appointments, members of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, police forces, firemen, and jail guards.
b. Right of appointee to a hearing in case of disapproval
c. Effectivity of appointment until disapproval
d. Criterion to be employed
e. Extent of Commissions authority
f. Attestation of appointment
g. Keeping of records of all appointments

h. Recall of appointment
i. Grounds for recall Rule VI, Sec. 20 Omnibus Implementing Regulations of the
Revised Administrative Code

E. Vacancy
There is a vacancy when an office is empty and without a legally qualified incumbent
appointed or elected to it with a lawful right to exercise it powers and perform its duties.
1. Classifications
a. Original when an office is created and no one has been appointed to fill it;
b. Constructive when the incumbent has no legal right or claim to continue in
office and can be legally replaced by another functionary;
c. Accidental when the incumbent having died, resigned, or been removed,
there is no one in esse discharging the duties of the office
d. Absolute when the term of an incumbent having expired and the latter not
having held over, no successor is in being who is legally qualified to assume the
office
2. Causes of vacancy
a. Death, permanent disability, removal from office or resignation of the
incumbent.
b. Abandonment, expiration of term, conviction of a crime, impeachment
conviction, acceptance of incompatible office, creation of a new office, reaching
the age limit and recall. Failure of persons chosen for office to accept or qualify
for the office.
3. Filing of Anticipated Vacancies
a. Generally appointment legal a prospective appointment to fill an anticipated
vacancy in a public office, made by the person or body which, as then
constituted, is empowered to fill the vacancy when it arises, is in the absence of
express law forbidding it, legal appointment, and vests title to the office in the
appointee.
b. Where appointment to take effect after expiration of appointing power but the
appointing power cannot forestall the rights and prerogatives of their successors
by appointing successors to offices expiring after its power to appoint has itself
expired. It is also plain that an appointment thus made by anticipation has no
other basis than expediency and convenience.