Law of Public Officers: Chapter I — General Principles
Public Office.
The right, authority or 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 sovereign power of government
to be exercised by him
for the benefit of the public.
Elements: C-D-D-I-P
Created by law or by authority of law;
Possess a delegation of a portion of the sovereign powers of government, to be exercised for the benefit of the public;
Powers conferred and duties imposed must be defined, directly or impliedly, by the legislature or by legislative authority;
Duties must be performed independently and without the control of a superior power other than the law, unless they be those of an inferior or subordinate office created or authorized by the legislature, and by it placed under the general control of a superior office or body; and
Must have permanence or continuity.
Creation.
Public offices are created:
By the Constitution
e.g., Office of the President;
By valid statutory enactment
e.g., Office of the Insurance Commissioner; and
By authority of law
e.g., the Davide Commission.
Public Officer.
A person who holds a public office.
Distinguished from public officer as understood in criminal law.
Art. 203, Revised Penal Code
any person who,
by direct provision of law,
popular election or appointment by competent authority,
shall take part in the performance of public functions in the Government of the Philippine Islands,
or shall perform in said Government or in any of its branches, public duties as an employee, agent or subordinate official, of any rank or class,
shall be deemed to be a public officer.
Under Sec. 2, R.A. 3019,
the term “public officer” includes
“elective and appointive officials and employees,
permanent or temporary,
whether in the classified, unclassified or exempt service,
receiving compensation, even nominal, from the government”
Note:
The terms “classified, unclassified or exempt service” were the old categories of the positions in the Civil Service, which have been reclassified into Career and Non-Career service by P.D. 807.
Piclaro v. Sandiganbayan, G.R. No. 110544, October 16, 1995:
Petitioner, as Project Manager of a government building construction project, falls under the Non-Career service category, and is, thus, a public officer under the law.
Accordingly, the Sandiganbayan has jurisdiction over him .
Azarcon v. Sandiganbayan, 268 SCRA 747:
Although the National Internal Revenue Code authorizes the Bureau of Internal Revenue to effect a constructive distraint by requiring any person to preserve the distrained property, there is no provision constituting such person as a public officer by reason of such requirement.
The Sandiganbayan, therefore, has no jurisdiction over the case involving such a person.
Distinguished from clerk or employee.
“Officer”
refers to a person whose duties,
not being of a clerical or manual nature,
involve the exercise of discretion in the
performance of the functions of government.
When used with reference to a person having authority to do a particular act or perform a particular function in the exercise of governmental power, “officer” includes any government employee, agent or body having authority to do the act or exercise that function.
Laurel v. Desierto, G.R. No. 145368. April 12, 2002:
The Supreme Court said that the most important characteristic which distinguishes an office from an employment is that the creation and conferring of an office involves a delegation to the individual of some of the sovereign functions of government, to be exercised by him for the benefit of the public, and that the same portion of the sovereignty of the country, either legislative, executive or judicial, attaches, for the time being, to be exercised for the public benefit.
Unless the powers so conferred are of this nature, the individual is not a public officer.
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