Civil Liberties Union

VS
.Executive Secretary
FACTS:
Petitioners: Ignacio P. Lacsina, Luis R. Mauricio, Antonio R. Quintos and Juan T. David
for petitioners in 83896 and Juan T. David for petitioners in 83815. Both petitions
were consolidatedand are being resolved jointly as both seek a declaration of the
unconstitutionality of ExecutiveOrder No. 284 issued by President Corazon C. Aquino
on July 25, 1987.Executive Order No. 284, according to the petitioners allows
members of the Cabinet, their undersecretaries and assistant secretaries to hold
other than government offices or positions inaddition to their primary positions. The
pertinent provisions of EO 284 is as follows:Section 1: A cabinet member,
undersecretary or assistant secretary or other appointive officials of the Executive
Department may in addition to his primary position, hold not more than
twopositions in the government and government corporations and receive the
correspondingcompensation therefor.Section 2: If they hold more positions more
than what is required in section 1, they mustrelinquish the excess position in favor
of the subordinate official who is next in rank, but in nocase shall any official hold
more than two positions other than his primary position.Section 3: AT least 1/3 of
the members of the boards of such corporation should either be asecretary, or
undersecretary, or assistant secretary.The petitioners are challenging EO 284s
constitutionality because it adds exceptions to Section13 of Article VII other than
those provided in the constitution. According to the petitioners, the onlyexceptions
against holding any other office or employment in government are those provided
inthe Constitution namely: 1. The Vice President may be appointed as a Member of
the Cabinetunder Section 3 par.2 of Article VII. 2. The secretary of justice is an ex-
officio member of theJudicial and Bar Council by virtue of Sec. 8 of article VIII.
Issue:
Whether or not Executive Order No. 284 is constitutional.
Decision:
No
. It is unconstitutional. Petition granted. Executive Order No. 284 was declared null
and void.
Ratio:

In the light of the construction given to Section 13 of Article VII, Executive Order No.
284 isunconstitutional. By restricting the number of positions that Cabinet
members, undersecretariesor assistant secretaries may hold in addition their
primary position to not more that two positionsin the government and government
corporations, EO 284 actually allows them to hold multipleoffices or employment in
direct contravention of the express mandate of Sec. 13 of Article VII of the 1987
Constitution prohibiting them from doing so, unless otherwise provided in the
1987Constitution itself.The phrase unless otherwise provided in this constitution
must be given a literal interpretation torefer only to those particular instances cited
in the constitution itself: Sec. 3 Art VII and Sec. 8 Art.VIII