010 Sanciangco V Roño.pdf

SANCIANGCO v. ROÑO JULY 19, 1985 | Melencio-Herrera, J​.​ | Illustration of rule (where the rule does not distinguish)*opposite PETITIONER​: Napoleon Sanciangco RESPONDENTS​: Hon. Jose Roño (Minister of Local Government), Sangguniang Panlungsod of Ozamiz City, Hon. Benjamin Fuentes (Vice Mayor and Presiding Officer of SP of Ozamis City), Hon. Antonio Caballero, Jesus Anonat, Manuel Cortes, Irene Luansing, et al (Members of SP) DOCTRINE​: Where the intent to make a distinction appears from the statute, the courts should make the distinction — in this case, the legislative intent to distinguish the effect of filing of CoCs by elective officials and appointive officials is clear. For elective officials — forced leave of absence For appointive officials — ceased ipso facto/resigned FACTS: 1. Sanciangco was ​elected Brgy. Captain of Sta. Cruz, Ozamis City in 1982. Later, he was ​elected President of the Association of Barangay Councils of Ozamis City. As the president of the association, he was ​appointed a member of the Sangguniang Panlungsod ​by Pres. Marcos 2. For the May 1984 BP elections, Sanciangco ​filed his CoC for Misamis Occidental but lost ​the election. As a result, he informed the vice mayor of Ozamis that he would be ​resuming his duties as member of SP ​pursuant to ​Art. 5, Sec. 13(2) of BP Blg. 697 3. The matter was elevated to respondent Roño who ruled that since Sanciangco is an APPOINTIVE OFFICIAL, he is ​deemed to have resigned from his appointive position ​(member of SP) ​upon the filing of his CoC 4. Sanciangco’s contention: a. Art. 5, Sec. 13(2) of BP Blg. 697 makes NO DISTINCTION between elective and appointive officials b. Its legislative intent is clear that even appointive brgy. officials are covered by that provision 5. Hence, this petition 6. Provisions in question: a. Sec. 13 of Batas Pambansa Blg. 697 — Effects of filing of certificate of candidacy i. Any person holding a public appointive office or position​, including active officers and members of the AFP and the Integrated National Police, as well as

officials and employees of government-owned and government-controlled corporations and their subsidiaries, ​shall ipso facto cease in office or position as of the time he filed his CoC: ​Provided, however, That the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Members of the Cabinet, and the Deputy Ministers shall continue in the offices they presently hold notwithstanding the filing of their CoCs. ii. Governors, mayors, ​members of the various sanggunians or barangay officials shall, upon filing CoC ​be considered on forced leave of absence from office ISSUE/s: 1. W/N Sanciangco should be considered as resigned or on forced leave of absence from the Sangguniang Panlungsod upon the filing of his CoC? — YES RULING: ​Petition dismissed. RATIO: 1. There is no doubt that Sanciangco is an appointive official as he was appointed by the President to be a member of the SP ​pursuant to BP Blg. 51 and LGC. 2. Following this, he is ​deemed to have ipso facto ceased to be such member ​when he filed his CoC. 3. Taking into consideration the nature of the positions enumerated in Sec. 13(2), the legislative intent to distinguish between elective positions under 13(2) and appointive positions in 13(1) is clear. a. 13(1) contains an all-encompassing clause reading “any person holding public APPOINTIVE office or position.” b. such legislative intent to distinguish the two can be gleaned from the proceedings of the Batas Pambansa 4. With regard to his membership to SP, Sanciangco is deemed to have resigned his position pursuant to 13(1) 5. With regard to his position as Brgy. Captain and President of ABC, he is deemed to have been on forced leave of absence as such positions are elective and fall under 13(2).