Executive Order No. 39




MALACAÑAN PALACE MANILA BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES [ EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 39, June 23, 1936 ] REORGANIZING THE BUREAU OF CIVIL SERVICE AND CREATING THE CIVIL SERVICE BOARD OF APPEALS WHEREAS, Article XI of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Civil Service which shall embrace all departments and subdivisions of the Government; that all appointments in the Civil Service shall be made only according to merit and fitness to be determined as far as practicable by competitive examination, except only as to positions which are policy-determining, primarily confidential or highly technical in nature; and that no officer or employee in the Civil Service should be removed or suspended except for cause as provided by law; WHEREAS, in order to give full force and effect to the provisions of the Constitution above set forth and in consonance with sound and progressive methods of public administration, there is urgent need for an independent and effective personnel agency with authority to make final decisions in matters of appointments, discipline, removal; and WHEREAS, the Bureau of Civil Service has heretofore been acting as such personnel agency but only in matters of appointments, so that on account of the added duties and responsibilities arising out of the proper enforcement of the provisions of the Constitution above set forth, it is necessary and expedient that said Bureau be reorganized, its category properly established, and the rank and authority of its head commensurately increased; NOW, THEREFORE, pursuant to the authority conferred upon me by the Constitution of the Philippines and by section three of Commonwealth Act Numbered Five, upon the recommendation of the Government Survey Board, I, MANUEL L. QUEZON, President of the Philippines, hereby order and decree— 1. That the Bureau of Civil Service be, and the same hereby is, raised in category from a second class to a first class bureau, and the attendant reorganization of its personnel is hereby authorized and directed. 2. The office of the Director of Civil Service shall hereafter be known as Commissioner of Civil Service with the rank, consideration, and honor corresponding to an Under Secretary of Department; the office of Assistant Director of Civil Service shall hereafter be known as Deputy Commissioner of Civil Service with the rank, consideration, and honor corresponding to that of an Assistant Director of a first class bureau, and with authority to act in lieu of the Commissioner of Civil Service whenever the latter is absent or otherwise unable to discharge the duties of his office. 3. In addition to the power and authority vested in the Bureau of Civil Service under existing law, it shall take exclusive charge of all formal administrative investigations against officers and employees in the Civil Service, and the decision and recommendation of the Commissioner of Civil Service with respect to appointments, removal, separation, and other matters relating to the conduct, discipline, and efficiency of the employees in the Civil Service shall be final: Provided, That the decision of the said Commissioner on administrative investigations against any officer or employee in the Civil Service may be appealed to the Civil Service Board of Appeals herein created.1âшphi1 4. There is hereby created a board to be known as the Civil Service Board of Appeals composed of the Auditor General, as Chairman, and the Solicitor-General and the Director of the Budget, as members, with power and authority to pass upon all appeals from the decision of the Commissioner of Civil Service respecting any administrative investigation against any officer or employee in the Civil Service. The decision of the Board of Appeals in all such cases shall be final. The Board of Appeals is hereby authorized to adopt such rules and regulations as it may consider proper and convenient for the conduct of the cases brought before it. For the proper performance of its duties hereunder, the Board of Appeals may utilize the services of such employees of the Bureau of Civil Service as it may require. Done at the City of Manila, this twenty-third day of June, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the first. MANUEL L. QUEZON President of the Philippines By the President: ELPIDIO QUIRINO Secretary of the Interior The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation