DISSENTING OPINION
DAVIDE, JR., J.:
In light of the disclosure in the revised ponencia that the creating of the questioned additional position of the Executive Vice-President, First, Second and Third Vice-Presidents, and Auditor, embodied in Article III of the Revised Implementing Rules and Guidelines for the General Elections of the Liga ng mga Barangay Officers was made by way of the Constitution and By-Laws adopted by the first Barangay National Assembly on 11 January, 1994, the ultimate issue then to be resolved is whether or not the Barangay Assembly is empowered to create said additional positions.
Section 493 of the Local Government code of 1991 (LGC) specifically provides as follows:
493. Organization. The liga at the municipality, city, provincial, metropolitan political subdivision, and national levels directly elect a president, a vice-president, and five (5) members of the board of directors. The board shall appoint its secretary and treasurer and create such positions as it may deem necessary for the management of the chapter. A secretary-general shall be elected from among the members of the national liga and shall be charged with the overall operation of the liga on the national level. The board shall coordinate the activities of the chapters of the liga. (Underscoring supplied).
Article VI of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Liga ng Mga Barangay provides as follows:
ARTICLE VI
OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS
Section 1. Organization of Board of Directors of Local Chapters. – The chapter shall directly elect their respective officers, namely a president; executive vice president; first, second, and third vice presidents; auditor; and five (5) members to constitute the Board of Directors of their respective chapter. Thereafter, the Board shall appoint a secretary, treasurer and public relations officer among the five (5) members, with rest serving as Directors of Board. The Board may create such other position as it may deem necessary for the management of the chapter. Pending elections of the president of the municipality, city, provincial and metropolitan chapters of the Liga, the incumbent presidents of the ABCs of the municipality, city, province and Metropolitan Manila shall continue to act as presidents of the corresponding Liga chapters, subject to the provision of the Local Government Code of 1991.
Section 2. Organization of Board of Directors of the National Liga – The National Liga shall be composed of the presidents of the provincial Liga chapters, highly urbanized and independent component city chapters, and the metropolitan chapter who shall directly elect their respective officers, namely, a president, executive vice-president; first, second, and third vice-presidents, auditor, secretary general; and five (5) members to constitute the Board of Directors of theNational Liga. Thereafter, the Board shall appoint a treasure, secretary and public relations officer from among the five (5) members with the rest serving as directors of the Board. The Board may create such other positions as it may deem necessary for the management of the National Liga. Pending election of Secretary-General, the incumbent president of the Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Barangay (PKB) shall act as the Secretary-General who continue to be presidents of the respective chapters of the Liga to which they belong, shall constitute a committee to exercise the powers and duties of the National Liga and with the primordial responsibility of drafting a Constitution and By-Laws needed for the organization of the Liga as a whole pursuant to the provision of theLocal Government Code of 1991. (Underscoring supplied)
Sections 1 and 2 of Article III of the Revised Implementing Rules and Guidelines for the General Elections of Liga ng Mga Barangay Officers read as follows:
1. Local Liga Chapters. The Municipal City Metropolitan and Provincial Chapters shall directly elect the following officers and directors to constitute their respective Board of Directors, namely:
1.1 President
1.2 Executive Vice-President
1.3 First Vice-President
1.4 Second Vice-President
1.5 Third Vice-President
1.6 Auditor
1.7 Five (5) Directors
§2 National Liga. The National Liga shall directly elect the following officers and directors to constitute the National Liga of Board Directors namely:
2.1 President
2.2 Executive Vice-President
2.3 First Vice-President
2.4 Second Vice-President
2.5 Third Vice-President
2.6 Secretary General
2.7 Auditor
2.8 Five (5) Directors
To implement Section 493 of the Local Government Code, Article 211 (f) of the Rules and Regulations Implementing the Local Government Code of 1991 provides:
(f) Organizational Structure –
(1) The national liga and its local chapters shall directly elect their respective officers, namely: a president, vice-president, and five (5) members of the board of directors. The board shall appoint its secretary and treasurer and create such positions as it may deem necessary for the management of the chapter. Pending election of presidents of the municipal, city, provincial, and metropolitan chapters of the liga, the incumbent presidents of the association of barangay councils in the municipality, city, province and Metropolitan Manila shall continue to act as presidents of the corresponding chapters under this Rule. (Underscoring supplied).
(2) A secretary-general shall be elected from among the members of the national liga who shall be responsible for the overall operation of the liga. Pending election of a secretary general under this rule, the incumbent president of the pambansang katipunan ng mga barangay shall act as the secretary general This incumbent members of the board of pambansang katipunan ng mga barangay, headed by the secretary general, who continue to be presidents of the respective chapters of the liga to which they belong, shall constitute a committee to exercise the powers and duties of the national liga and draft or amend the constitution and by-laws of the national liga to conform to the provisions of this rule.
(3) The board of directors shall coordinate the activities of the various chapters of the liga.
It may readily be observed that Section 493 of the LGC and Article 211 (f) of the Implementinbg Rules are clear that the officers of the national liga and its local chapters are: (1) the President, (2) Vice President and (3) five (5) members of the Board of Directors. In turn, it is the Board of Directors which appoints the secretary treasurer and is empowered to “create such other positions as it may deem necessary for the management of the chapter concerned.” It is, therefore, unequivocally clear that only the Board of Directors – and not any other body – which is vested with the power to create other positions as may be necessary for the management of the chapter.
The Ponencia maintains that since the questioned positions were provided for in the Constitution and By-laws of the Liga ng Mga Barangay adopted during its First Barangay National Assembly on 11 January 1994, then such additional positions “were as much the creations of the local chapters as of the national league. The barangays themselves, through the constitution and by-laws of their liga, created the additional positions without precluding the boards of directors of the chapters as well as that of the national liga from creating other positions.”
I beg to differ. In the first place, I am unable to find any provision of the LGC creating or establishing the Barangay National Assembly.ℒαwρhi৷ What the LGC has created is the Liga ng Mga Barangay (Sec. 491) with local chapters at the municipal, city, provincial and metropolitan subdivision levels (Sec. 492). Under the Implementing Rules of LGC (Art. 211 [c]4), the National Liga ng Mga Barangay is composed of the duly elected presidents of highly urbanized city chapters, provincial chapters and metropolitan chapters.
Pursuant to Article 211 [f]2 of the Implementing Rules, the members of the Board of the Pambansang Katipunan ng Mga Barangay, headed by the Secretary-General, were constituted into a committee to exercise the powers and duties of the national liga and draft or amend the Constitution and By-Laws of the Liga. There is at all no showing that this committee was the so-called First Barangay National Assembly which convened on 11 January 1994.
Second, even assuming that the committee was so-called First Barangay National Assembly of 11 January 1994, said committee was not authorized to create, by virtue of the Constitution and By-Laws it enacted additional positions for the national liga and the liga at the local levels. The aforementioned Article 211 (g), limits the powers of this committee, as follows:
(g) Constitution and By-Laws of the Liga –
(1) All other matters not provided under this Rule affecting the internal organization of the liga shall be governed by its constitution and by-laws, unless inconsistent with the Constitution and applicable laws, rules, and regulations.
(2) The committee created in this Article shall formulate uniform constitution and by-laws applicable to the national liga and all local chapters. The committee shall convene the national liga to ratify the constitution and by-laws within six (6) months from issuance of these rules.
Note that the constitution and by-laws which the committee may enact must not be inconsistent with … “applicable laws, rules and regulations.” Of course, one of thelaws that come to mind is the LGC of 1991 and the rules and regulations could nothing be than the Rules implementing the Local Government Code of 1991. It goes without saying that the LGC and its Implementing Rules must perforce be heeded. It bears repeating that as they stand, Section 493 of the LGC and Article 211 (f) of the Implementing Rules limit the officers to the President, Vice President, and the Board of directors composed of five (5) members. The latter then appoints a secretary and a treasurer and may create such other positions as it may deem necessary for the management of the chapter. Plainly, neither the LGC nor the Implementing Rules authorizes any person or entity, other than the Board of Directors, to create additional positions.
Third, it would be clear case of judicial legislation to declare that since the additional positions were created in the Constitution and By-Laws of the Liga ng Mga Barangay, then they “were as much as the creatios of the local chapters as of the national league.” This runs afoul of Section 493 of the LGC which vests the power to create additional positions only in the Board of Directors of the chapter.
The Claim in the ponencia that the creation of additional positions in the Constitution and By-Laws does not preclude the board of directors of the chapter as well as that of the national liga from creating other positions, is inconsistent with the earlier proposition that such new positions “were as much the creations of the local chapters and the league” and the further justification proferred that the creation of the national position “was intended to provide uniform officers for the various chapters and the national liga was inline with the mandate of the assembly to ‘formulate uniform constitution and by-laws applicable to the national liga and all local chapters.’” If this were so, then the chapters are barred from creating additional positions other than those created in the Constitution and By laws of the Liga ng Mga Barangay.
Finally, it may likewise be observed that Section 493 merely allows the creation of other appointive positions “as it may deem necessary for the management of the chapter.” I lay stress on the term “appointive,” in light of the clause preceding the grant of the power, which reads: “The board shall appoint its secretary and treasurer. Following the rule of ejusdem generis in statutory construction, the “other positions” which maybe created must be of the same category, viz., APPOINTIVE, as that of secretary and treasurer. There other positions may then be that of an assistant secretary, assistant treasurer, auditor, public relations officer, or information officer, or even a sergeant-at-arms. Further, under Section 493, the new positions which may be created are those “deemed necessary for the management of the chapter,” which may only pertain to the day-to-day business and affairs of the liga chapter, and not to policy formulation which may be exercised the executive officers and Board of Directors. In short, the section does not empower the local liga to create elective positions other than that of President, Vice-President, and Board of Directors.
For the foregoing reasons, I vote to declare void, for lack of legislative authority Sections 1 and 2 of Article III of the Implementing Rules and Guidelines for the General Elections of the Liga ng Mga Barangay Officers and Sections 1 and 2 of Article VI of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Liga ng Mga Barangay, insofar as they relate to the creation of the positions of executive vice president, first, second and third vice presidents and auditor.
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