ELIGIBILITY AND QUALIFICATIONS

Under the Administrative Code, a person who is eligible is one who obtains a passing grade in a civil service
examination and whose name is entered in the register of eligible from which appointments must be made.
Qualification is understood in two senses:
 As an endowment – Referring to qualifications required of the public officer to insure the proper
discharge of duties of his office (examples: age, citizenship, suffrage, literacy, residence, moral
qualifications, etc.)
Duration of qualification: it must be of a continuing nature; must exist at the
commencement of the term and during occupancy of the office (Yee vs. Director of Public
Schools)
 As an act – Referring to an action of enabling the person to perform the functions of his office
(example: taking an oath of office)

DISQUALIFICATIONS AND INHIBITIONS

Lack of disqualifications is itself a qualification. Accordingly, even if a person may have the prescribed
qualifications for a public office, he will still be ineligible therefor if he is laboring under a disqualification.
Disqualifications under the Constitution:
- Art. IX-B, Sec. 6: No candidate who lost in an election shall, within one year after the election, be
appointed to any office in the government
- Art. IX-B, Sec. 7, Par. 1: No elective official shall be eligible for appointment or designation in any
capacity to any public office or position during his tenure
- Art. IX-B, Sec. 7, Par. 2: Unless otherwise allowed by law or by the primary functions of his
position, no appointive official shall hold any other position in the government
- Art. VII, Sec. 13: The President, Vice-President, the Members of the Cabinet, and their deputies or
assistants shall not, unless otherwise provided in the Constitution, hold any other office or
employment during their tenure
- Art. VI, Sec. 13: No Senator or Member of the House of Representatives may hold any other office
or employment in the Government, or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof,
including government-owned or controlled corporations or their subsidiaries, during his term
without forfeiting his seat. Neither shall he be appointed to any office which may have been created
nor the emoluments thereof increased during the term for which he was elected.
- Art. VIII, Sec. 12: The Members of the Supreme Court and of other courts established by law shall
not be designated to any agency performing quasi-judicial or administrative function
o Exception: When the member/s of the Supreme Court is designated to an Electoral Tribunal
i.e. Presidential Electoral Tribunal
- Art. IX-A, Sec. 2: No member of a Constitutional Commission shall, during his tenure, hold any
office or employment.
Disqualifications under the Local Government Code
- The following persons are disqualified from running for any elective local position:
o Those sentenced by final judgment for an offense involving moral turpitude or for an
offense punishable by one year or more of imprisonment, within 2 years after serving
sentence
o Those removed from office as a result of an administrative case
o Those convicted by final judgment for violating the oath of allegiance to the republic
o Those with dual citizenship
o Fugitives from justice in criminal or non-political cases here or abroad
o Permanent residents in a foreign country or those who have acquired the right to reside
abroad and continue to avail of the same right after the effectivity of this code and
o The insane or feeble-minded.