THE LAW ON

PUBLIC OFFICERS
Chapter 8

Impeachment & Abolition of

Office

Geraldine Solis-Ybaez
Reporter
By Impeachment
(1) Impeachable officials - The President, the Vice-
President, the Members of the Supreme Court, the
Members of the Constitutional Commissions, and the
Ombudsman may be removed from office, on
impeachment for, and conviction of, culpable violation of
the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption,
other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust. All other
public officers and employees may be removed from
office as provided by law, but not by impeachment . An
impeachable officer who is a member of the BAR cannot
be disbarred without first being impeached.
By Impeachment
(2) Power to initiate and to try impeachment cases.-
The House of Representatives has the sole power to
initiate all cases of impeachment while the Senate sits as
a court for the trial of impeachment cases. In
impeachment cases, the judgment shall not extend
further than removal from office and disqualification to
hold any office under the Republic of the Philippines, but
the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and
subject to prosecution, trial and punishment according to
law.
Meaning and purpose of impeachment
Impeachment has been defined as a method of national
inquest into the conduct of public men.

Its purpose is to protect the people from official

delinquencies or malfeasances. It is therefore, primarily
intended for the protection of the State, not for the punishment
of the offender. The penalties attached to impeachment are
merely incidental to the primary intention of protecting the
people as a body politic.
By abolition of office
(1) Authority with power to abolish. As a general rule,
Congress may abolish any office it creates without infringing
upon the rights of the officer or employee affected. The
power to abolish offices may be exercised by the President
or by local governments when said power has been
delegated to them, or by the people themselves when they
amend the Constitution.

(2) Abolition of office even during term of incumbent.

The power of Congress to abolish an office may be exercised
at any time and even while the office is occupied by a duly
elected or appointed incumbent for there is no obligation on
Congress or the people to continue a useless office for the
sake of the person who may be in possession thereof. Thus,
absent of some constitutional prohibition, an office created
by Congress may be abolished by it during the term of an
incumbent.
What constitutes abolition.
To consider an office abolished, there must have been
intention to do away with it wholly and permanently, as the
word abolish denotes. There is no abolition where the
position is the same one but bearing a different name.
 Removal of office and termination by
abolition of an office distinguished

Removal
There is an office with an occupant who would thereby lose his
position.

The position subsists and the incumbent is

merely separated therefrom.

Abolition

After abolition, there is no more

Abolition must not constitute removal without cause

a. Right to public office not absolute

1. Except constitutional offices which provide for special
immunity as regards salary and tenure, no one can be said to have any
vested right in an office or its salary. (National Land Titles and Deeds
Registration Administration v. Civil Service Commission, 221 SCRA 145
(1993))

b. Where abolition done in bad faith

1. If the abolition is void because it was done in bad faith,
the incumbent is deemed never to have ceased to hold office.

c. Requisites for valid abolition

1. Good faith
2. Not for personal or political reasons or in order to
circumvent the incumbents security of tenure
3. Not implemented in violation of laws

d. Instances of valid abolition

1. For reason of economy, where the functions of the
abolished position of Municipal Clerk were light and simple and could
readily be absorbed by the other existing offices, and no one was appointed
in his place, nor was a new position created; (Arao v.Luspo, 20 SCRA
702 (1967))
 2. Where the position of assistant provincial
assessor was abolished because of a
huge deficit and the duties of the position
which could be dispensed with were performed by
others; (Llanto v. Dimaporo, Jr., 16 SCRA 599 (1966))

3. Where the functions of the old office were

taken over by the new office created to replace it,
which new office also took over the functions of other
offices that had been likewise absorbed by it.
(Manalang v. Quitoriano, 94 Phil. 903 (1954))
Termination through reorganization

a. Reorganization occurs when there is an alteration of the

existing structure of government offices or units therein, including
lines of control, authority, and responsibility between them to
promote greater efficiency, remove redundancy of functions, effect
economy, make it more responsive to the needs of the clientele. It may
result in the loss of position through removal or abolition of the office.

b. Based on a valid purpose and done in good faith

1. Reorganization may be done by law independently of
specific constitutional authorization but it must be based on a valid purpose
and done in good faith.

2. There is no violation of the civil servants right to security of

tenure if the agency where she works exercises the essential prerogative
to change the work assignment or to transfer the civil servant to an
assignment where she would be most useful and effective. There is no
violation of the right to security of tenure if it is pursuant to a valid
reorganization (Manalang- Demigillo v. Trade and Investment
Development Corp. of the Philippines, G.R. No. 168613, 5 March 2013).
c. Instances of invalid reorganization

1. Where the abolished office and the offices created in its

place have similar functions, the abolition lacks good faith.
THANK YOU.