De Leon vs. Esguerra

ALFREDO M. DE LEON, ANGEL S. SALAMAT, MARIO C. STA. ANA, JOSE C. TOLENTINO, ROGELIO J. DE LA ROSA and JOSE M. RESURRECCION, petitioners,
vs.
HON. BENJAMIN B. ESGUERRA, in his capacity as OIC Governor of the Province of Rizal, HON. ROMEO C. DE LEON, in his capacity as OIC Mayor of the Municipality of Taytay, Rizal, FLORENTINO G. MAGNO, REMIGIO M. TIGAS, RICARDO Z. LACANIENTA, TEODORO V. MEDINA, ROSENDO S. PAZ, and TERESITA L. TOLENTINO, respondents.

G.R. NO. 78059
AUGUST 31, 1987

FACTS:

In the May 17, 1982 Barangay elections, petitioner Alfredo M. De Leon was elected Barangay Captain and the other petitioners Angel S. Salamat, et al., as Barangay Councilmen of Barangay Dolores, Taytay, Rizal. On February 9, 1987, petitioner Alfredo M, de Leon received a Memorandum antedated December 1, 1986 but signed by respondent OIC Governor Benjamin Esguerra on February 8, 1987 designating respondent Florentino G. Magno as Barangay Captain of Barangay Dolores, Taytay, Rizal. The designation made by the OIC Governor was “by authority of the Minister of Local Government.”

Also on February 8, 1987, Esguerra signed a Memorandum, antedated December 1, 1986 designating respondents Remigio M. Tigas, et al., as members of the Barangay Council of the same Barangay and Municipality.

Petitioners maintain that with the ratification of the 1987 Constitution, Esguerra no longer has the authority to replace them and to designate their successors.

However, respondents rely on Section 2, Article III of the Provisional Constitution, which provided:

SECTION 2. All elective and appointive officials and employees under the 1973 Constitution shall continue in office until otherwise provided by proclamation or executive order or upon the designation or appointment and qualification of their successors, if such appointment is made within a period of one year from February 25, 1986.

ISSUE:

Whether the designation of the respondents to replace petitioners was validly made during the one-year period which ended on February 25, 1987.

HELD:
NO. While February 8, 1987 is ostensibly still within the one year deadline under the Provisional Constitution, the same must be deemed to have been overtaken by Section 27, Article XVIII of the 1987 Constitution reading: ―This Constitution shall take effect immediately upon its ratification by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite held for the purpose and shall supersede all previous Constitutions.

The 1987 Constitution was ratified in a plebiscite on February 2, 1987. By that date, the Provisional Constitution must be deemed to have been superseded. Having become inoperative, Section 2, Article III of the Provisional Constitution could not be relied on by the respondent OIC Governor. The memorandum dated February 8, 1987 by the respondent OIC Governor could no longer have any legal force and effect.

The act of ratification is the act of voting by the people. The canvass of the votes thereafter is merely the mathematical confirmation of what was done during the date of the plebiscite, and the proclamation of the President is merely the official confirmatory declaration of an act which was actually done by the Filipino people in adopting the Constitution when they cast their votes on the date of the plebiscite.

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