Public Officers

Question 1

Public Office

Answer 1

• Refers to the right, authority, and 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 vested with some portion of sovereign functions of government, to be exercised by that individual for the benefit of the public.

Question 2

Public Office is a public trust

Answer 2

implies a fiduciary relationship between public officer, who is a trustee, and the people who are the beneficiaries of a public office

Question 3

PUBLIC OFFICER AND EMPLOYEE DEFINED

Answer 3

Officer – duties are not of clerical or manual nature

• Involves the exercise of discretion in the performance of the functions of the government.
• Includes any government employee, agent or body having authority to do the act or exercise that function.

Question 4

Anti- Graft and Corrupt Practices Act

Answer 4

includes elective and appointive officials and employees, permanent or temporary, whether in the classified or unclassified or exempt service receiving compensation, even nominal, from the government.

Question 5

Appointment

Answer 5

the selection by the authority vested with the power, of an individual who is to exercise the functions of a given office. It is an act of designation by the executive officer, board or body, to whom that power has been delegated, of the person who is to exercise the duties and responsibilities of the given position. Sufficient discretion is granted the appointing authority.

Question 6

Designation

Answer 6

connotes merely the imposition of additional duties, usually by law, upon a person who is already in the public service by virtue of an earlier appointment or election. By its nature it is temporary and the designation does not confer upon the designee security of tenure in the position or office which he occupies in an acting capacity

Question 7

Ad interim appointment

Answer 7

those made by the president during the recess of Congress of officials whose confirmation by the Commission on Appointments is required by the constitution

Question 8

These ad interim appointments are permanent until:

Answer 8

1. Disapproval by the Commission on Appointments

2. Until the next adjournment of the Congress

Question 9

Term and Tenure

Answer 9

– a permanent appointment carries a term, while a temporary appointment implies a mere tenure.

Question 10

Term

Answer 10

means a fixed and definite period of time which the law prescribes that an officer may hold an office. A period fixed by the constitution or by law, during which an officer or employee claims to hold office as of right and fixes the interval after which the several incumbents shall succeed to one another

Question 11

3 Kinds of Term

Answer 11

1. Expressly fixed by the constitution or the law
2. During good behavior until reaching retirement age
3. One which is indefinite and terminates at the pleasure of the appointing authority

Question 12

Tenure

Answer 12

represents the period during which the incumbent actually holds the office, which may be shorter than the term

Question 13

Nepotism as a restriction to appointment

Answer 13

means favoritism in the appointment in the public service in favor of a relative within the third degree either of consanguinity or affinity by the appointing or recommending authority.

Question 14

Exempted from the operation of the rules on nepotism

Answer 14

1. Persons employed in a confidential capacity
2. Teachers
3. Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
4. Marriage with someone in the same office or bureau
5. GOCC organized under the Corporation Law

Question 15

Double appointment

Answer 15

not prohibited as long as the officer or employee appointed cannot receive additional or double compensation unless specifically authorized by law.

Question 16

De Facto Officer

Answer 16

one who assumed the office under the color of a known appointment or election but which appointment or election is void for reasons that the officer was not eligible, or there was a want of power in the electing body, or there are some defect or irregularity in its exercise, wherein such want, ineligibility or defect being UNKOWN TO THE PUBLIC.

Question 17

De Jure Officer

Answer 17

one who is in all respects legally appointed or elected and qualified to exercise the office

Question 18

Appointment vs Designation

Answer 18

Appointment refers to the selection by the proper authority of an individual who is to exercise the functions of a given office, while designation merely connotes the imposition by law of additional duties on an incumbent official.

Appointment carries with it permanence and security of tenure, while in designation the office is only in temporary capacity.

Question 19

Effect of the acts of a de facto officer

Answer 19

1. lawful acts affecting third persons, if done within the scope by apparent authority are valid and binding
2. De facto officer is subject to the same liabilities imposed on the de jure officer in the discharge of official duties, in addition to special damages may be due from him because of unlawful assumption of office;
3. acts of a de facto officer, insofar as they affect the public, are valid, binding and with full legal effect.