Source: http://lawlibrary.chanrobles.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=40371:g-r-no-119903-august-15,-2000-ricardo-t-gloria,-et-al-v-court-of-appeals,-et-al&amp;catid=1396&amp;Itemid=566
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 18:41:04+00:00

Document:
HON. RICARDO T. GLORIA, in his capacity as SECRETARY, AND DIRECTOR NILO L. ROSAS in his capacity as REGIONAL DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, CULTURE AND SPORTS, Petitioners, v. HON. COURT OF APPEALS AND DR. BIENVENIDO A. ICASIANO, Respondents.
"On June 29, 1989, petitioner [private respondent herein] was appointed Schools Division Superintendent, Division of City Schools, Quezon City, by the then President Corazon C. Aquino.
On October 10, 1994, respondent Secretary Gloria recommended to the President of the Philippines that the petitioner be reassigned as Superintendent of the MIST [Marikina Institute of Science and Technology], to fill up the vacuum created by the retirement of its Superintendent, Mr. Bannaoag F. Lauro, on June 17,1994.
On October 12, 1994, the President approved the recommendation of Secretary Gloria.
On October 13, 1994, a copy of the recommendation for petitioner’s reassignment, as approved by the President, was transmitted by Secretary Gloria to Director Rosas for implementation.
On October 14, 1994, Director Rosas, informed the petitioner of his reassignment, effective October 17, 1994.
Petitioner requested respondent Secretary Gloria to reconsider the reassignment, but the latter denied the request. The petitioner prepared a letter dated October 18, 1994 to the President of the Philippines, asking for a reconsideration of his reassignment, and furnished a copy of the same to the DECS. However, he subsequently changed his mind and refrained from filing the letter with the Office of President.
On December 21, 1994, the Court of Appeals issued another resolution setting the hearing of the petition for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction and enjoining the petitioners from implementing the reassignment of the private Respondent.
"WHEREFORE, for lack of a period or any indication that it is only temporary, the reassignment of the petitioner from Schools Division Superintendent, Division of City Schools, Quezon City, to Vocational Schools Superintendent of the Marikina Institute of Science and Technology pursuant to the Memorandum of Secretary Ricardo T. Gloria to the President of the Philippines dated 10 October 1994, is hereby declared to be violative of petitioner’s right to security of tenure, and the respondents are hereby prohibited from implementing the same.
RESPONDENT COURT OF APPEALS HAS ALLOWED ITSELF TO BE INSTRUMENTAL IN PRIVATE RESPONDENT’S CIRCUMVENTION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY FROM SUIT BY GIVING DUE COURSE AND GRANTING RELIEFS PRAYED FOR IN A SUIT PURPORTEDLY FILED AGAINST PETITIONERS BUT ACTUALLY QUESTIONING AN ACT OF THE PRESIDENT.
The pivotal issue for resolution here is whether the reassignment of private respondent from School Division Superintendent of Quezon City to Vocational School Superintendent of MIST is violative of his security of tenure? Petitioners maintain that there is no violation of security of tenure involved. Private respondent maintains otherwise.
Petitioners theorize that the present petition for prohibition is improper because the same attacks an act of the President, in violation of the doctrine of presidential immunity from suit.
Petitioners contend that the doctrine enunciated in Bentain v. Court of Appeals 10 — that "a reassignment that is indefinite and results in a reduction in rank, status and salary, is in effect, a constructive removal from the service" — does not apply in the present case for the reassignment in question was merely temporary, lasting only until the appointment of a new Vocational School Superintendent of MIST.
"Security of tenure is a fundamental and constitutionally guaranteed feature of our civil service. The mantle of its protection extends not only to employees removed without cause but also to cases of unconsented transfers which are tantamount to illegal removals (Department of Education, Culture and Sports v. Court of Appeals, 183 SCRA 555; Ibañez v. COMELEC, 19 SCRA 1002; Brillantes v. Guevarra, 27 SCRA 138).
Having found the reassignment of private respondent to the MIST to be violative of his security of tenure, the order for his reassignment to the MIST cannot be countenanced.
1.	Penned by Associate Justice Hector L. Hofilena and concurred by Associate Justices Nathanael P. De Pano, Jr. (Chairman) and Godardo A. Jacinto.
3.	Resolution; Rollo, pp. 61-62.
4.	Resolution; Rollo, p. 70.
8.	Medrana v. Office of the President, 188 SCRA 818, 824.
9.	Banco Filipino Savings & Mortgage Bank v. Monetary Board, Central Bank of the Philippines, 204 SCRA 767, 790-791 citing: Lim, Sr. v. Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, 34 SCRA 751.
10.	209 SCRA 644, 649.
12.	Bentain v. Court of Appeals, supra pp. 648-649.

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