Case Digest: Domingo v Zamora

ISSUE:  whether EO 81 and the DECS  Memoranda are valid. 

FACTS:  On March 5, 1999, former President Joseph E. Estrada issued Executive Order No. 813 (EO 81 for brevity) entitled Transferring the Sports Programs and Activities of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports to the Philippine Sports Commission and Defining the Role of DECS in School-Based Sports. Pursuant to EO 81, former DECS Secretary Andrew B. Gonzales (Secretary Gonzales for brevity) issued Memorandum No. 01592 on January 10, 2000. Memorandum No. 01592 temporarily reassigned, in the exigency of the service, all remaining BPESS Staff to other divisions or bureaus of the DECS effective March 15, 2000.On January 21, 2000, Secretary Gonzales issued Memorandum No. 01594 reassigning the BPESS staff named in the Memorandum to various offices within the DECS effective March 15, 2000. Petitioners were among the BPESS personnel affected by Memorandum No. 01594. Dissatisfied with their reassignment, petitioners filed the instant petition. petitioners argue that EO 81 is void and unconstitutional for being an undue legislation by President Estrada. Petitioners maintain that the Presidents issuance of EO 81 violated the principle of separation of powers. Petitioners also challenge the DECS Memoranda for violating their right to security of tenure.Petitioners seek to nullify EO 81 and the DECS Memoranda. During the pendency of the case, Republic Act No. 9155 (RA 9155 for brevity), otherwise known as the Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001, was enacted on August 11, 2001. RA 9155 expressly abolished the BPESS and transferred the functions, programs and activities of the DECS relating to sports competition to the PSC. 

DECISION:  Dismissed 

RATIO DECIDENDI:  We dismiss this petition for being moot and academic. As manifested by both petitioners and respondents, the subsequent enactment of RA 9155 has rendered the issues in the present case moot and academic. Since RA 9155 abolished the BPESS and transferred the DECS functions relating to sports competition to the PSC, petitioners now admit that it is no longer plausible to raise any ultra vires assumption by the PSC of the functions of the BPESS. Moreover, since RA 9155 provides that BPESS personnel not transferred to the PSC shall be retained by the DECS, petitioners now accept that the law explicitly protects and preserves their right to security of tenure.