SEC. OF DOTC. V. MABALOT FACTS 19 February 1996: then DOTC Secretary Jesus B. Garcia, Jr.

., issued Memorandum Order No. 96-735 addressed to Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman Dante Lantin directing him to effect the transfer of regional functions of that office to the DOTCCAR Regional Office, pending the creation of a regular Regional Franchising and Regulatory Office thereat, pursuant to Section 7 of Executive Order No. 202. 13 March 1996: herein respondent Roberto Mabalot filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition praying that the Memorandum Order No. 96-735 be declared illegal and without effect. 29 January 1997: Secretary Lagdameo issued the assailed Department Order No. 97-1025, establishing DOTC-CAR Regional Office, created by virtue of Executive Order No. 220 dated July 15, 1987, as the Regional Office of the LTFRB. Mabalot filed a Supplemental Petition assailing the validity of Department Order No. 97-1025 31 March 1999: the lower court rendered a decision declaring Memorandum Order Nos. 96-733 and 97-1025 of the respondent DOTC Secretary null and void and without any legal effect as being violative of the provision of the Constitution against encroachment on the powers of the legislative department and also of the provision enjoining appointive officials from holding any other office or employment in the Government. Instant petition where this Court is tasked in the main to resolve the issue of validity of the subject administrative issuances by the DOTC Secretary. ISSUES (1) WON the administrative issuances of the DOTC Secretary are valid. (2) WON the DOTC Sec encroached on the powers of the legislature. (3) WON the administrative issuances are violative of Sections 7 and 8, Article IX-B of the Constitution. HELD/RATIO (1) YES. Memorandum Order No. 96-735 and Department Order No. 97-1025 are legal and valid administrative issuances by the DOTC Secretary. Section 17, Article VII of the Constitution mandates that The President shall have control of all executive departments, bureaus and offices. He shall ensure that the laws be faithfully executed... Section 62 of Republic Act 7645 (General Appropriations Act [G.A.A.] for FY 1993) shows that the President is authorized to effect organizational changes including the creation of offices in the department or agency concerned. The Administrative Code of 1987 also provides legal basis for the Chief Executives authority to reorganize the National Government. (2) NO, the office was created by authority of law, not by Congress. The President - through his duly constituted political agent and alter ego, the DOTC Secretary in the present case - may legally and validly decree the reorganization of the Department, particularly the establishment of DOTC-CAR as the LTFRB Regional Office at the Cordillera Administrative Region, with the concomitant transfer and performance of public functions and responsibilities appurtenant to a regional office of the LTFRB.

By the Chief Executives unequivocal act of issuing Administrative Order No. 36 ordering his alter ego - the DOTC Secretary in the present case - to effectuate the creation of Regional Offices in the CAR, it is as if the President himself carried out the creation and establishment of LTFRB-CAR Regional Office, when in fact, the DOTC Secretary, as alter ego of the President, directly and merely sought to implement the Chief Executives Administrative Order. The personality of the heads of the various departments is in reality but the projection of that of the President. Thus, their acts, performed and promulgated in the regular course of business, are, unless disapproved or reprobated by the Chief Executive, presumptively the acts of the Chief Executive. Elementary rule in administrative law and the law on public officers that a public office may be created through any of the following modes: (1) by the Constitution (fundamental law), (2) by law (statute duly enacted by Congress), or (3) by authority of law, thus, Congress can delegate the power to create positions. The creation and establishment of LTFRB-CAR Regional Office was made pursuant to the third mode - by authority of law, which could be decreed for instance, through an Executive Order (E.O.) issued by the President or an order of an administrative agency such as the Civil Service Commission pursuant to Section 17, Book V of E.O. 292, otherwise known as The Administrative Code of 1987. In this case, the DOTC Secretary issued the assailed Memorandum and Department Orders pursuant to Administrative Order No. 36 of the President Reorganization is regarded as valid provided it is pursued in good faith. As a general rule, a reorganization is carried out in good faith if it is for the purpose of economy or to make bureaucracy more efficient. The reorganization in this case was decreed in the interest of the service and for purposes of economy and more effective coordination of the DOTC functions in the Cordillera Administrative Region, thus in good faith. (3) NO. The assailed Orders of the DOTC Secretary do not violate Sections 7 and 8, Article IX-B of the Constitution. Considering that in the case of Memorandum Order No. 96-735, the organic personnel of the DOTC-CAR were, in effect, merely designated to perform the additional duties and functions while performing the functions of their permanent office. Also, an office or employment held in the exercise of the primary functions of ones principal office is an exception to, or not within the contemplation, of the prohibition embodied in Section 7, Article IX-B. No evidence was adduced and presented to clearly establish that the appointive officials and employees of DOTC-CAR shall receive any additional, double or indirect compensation, in violation of Section 8, Article IX-B of the Constitution