G.R. No. 110954 May 31, 1995
DELFIN N. DIVINAGRACIA, JR., AND ALEXIS D. SAN LUIS, petitioners, vs. HON. PATRICIA A. STO. TOMAS, RAMON P. ERENETA, JR., and PRESCILLA B. NACARIO, respondents.

FACTS

Filomena Mancita was permanently appointed Municipal Development Coordinator of Pili, Camarines Sur, in 1980. In 1985, Mayor Anastacio Prila terminated her, claiming the position was abolished due to reorganization, and appointed Prescilla Nacario, the incumbent Municipal Budget Officer, as the new Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator. The Merit Systems Protection Board later declared Mancita’s termination illegal and ordered her reinstatement. To comply, Mayor Delfin Divinagracia relieved Nacario from the MPDC position in 1990.
Subsequently, the Department of Budget and Management temporarily appointed Alexis San Luis as Municipal Budget Officer in 1991, and Mayor Divinagracia later appointed him permanently in 1992. Nacario, upon being relieved as MPDC, sought to return to her former Budget Officer position. The Civil Service Commission, in Resolution No. 93-1996, upheld Nacario’s right to security of tenure, ruling that her reassignment to MPDC was merely a detail and that her reinstatement to her original Budget Officer position was warranted, thereby effectively ousting San Luis.

ISSUE

Whether the Civil Service Commission correctly ruled that Prescilla Nacario is entitled to be reinstated to the position of Municipal Budget Officer, thereby displacing the incumbent, Alexis San Luis.

RULING

No. The Supreme Court reversed the CSC resolution. The Court held that Nacario’s appointment as MPDC in 1985 was a promotional appointment, not a mere detail or transfer. A promotion involves advancement to a position with higher duties and responsibilities, which the MPDC role entailed compared to the Budget Officer position. Nacario accepted this new appointment, which carried a different title and salary grade, and she performed its functions for over five years. By voluntarily accepting the promotion, she effectively vacated her former position of Municipal Budget Officer. The principle of security of tenure attaches to the new, promoted position, not to the former one relinquished. Consequently, when she was later lawfully separated from the MPDC position due to the rightful reinstatement of Mancita, she had no automatic right to revert to her old post, which was no longer vacant. The subsequent appointment of San Luis to the Budget Officer position, having been issued to a qualified individual following standard procedure, was valid. Therefore, San Luis, as a permanent appointee, is entitled to security of tenure in that office.