SC voids appointment of ex-COA chief Villar

Manila, Philippines -  The Supreme Court (SC) has nullified the appointment of former Commission on Audit chair Reynaldo Villar by the previous administration for violating the seven-year aggregate term rule in the constitutional body.

In a 30-page decision promulgated last April 24 but released only yesterday, the SC declared as unconstitutional Villar’s appointment as COA chair by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal–Arroyo in 2008, after four years of his service as a commissioner of the same agency.

The SC ruling, penned by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., cited Section 1 (2) of Article IX (D) of the Constitution, which prohibits the reappointment of chair and commissioners of COA for another seven-year term.

The SC said Arroyo “could not have had, under any circumstance, validly appointed Villar as COA chairman, for a full seven-year appointment, as the Constitution decrees, was not legally feasible in light of the seven-year aggregate rule. Villar had already served four years of his seven-year term as COA commissioner.”

The court further ruled that a shorter term would also be invalid as it “would effectively breach the clear purpose of the Constitution of giving to every appointed so appointed subsequent to the first set of commissioners, a fixed term of office of seven years.”

It explained that a commissioner who resigns after serving in the commission for less than seven years would only be eligible for an appointment to the position of chair if there is an unexpired portion of the term of the departing chair and “provided… that the vacancy in the position of chair resulted from death, resignation, disability or removal by impeachment.”

Arroyo appointed Guillermo Carague as COA chair on Feb. 15, 2001 for a term of seven years. On Feb. 7, 2004, Arroyo appointed Villar as third COA member for a seven-year term starting Feb. 2, 2004 until Feb. 2, 2011.

Following Carague’s retirement in 2008, Villar was designated as acting COA chair and on the same year was nominated and appointed COA chair.

Villar, whose appointment was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments on June 11, 2008, was to serve as COA chair, as expressly indicated in the appointment papers, until the expiration of the original term of his office as COA commissioner or on Feb. 2, 2011.

However, Villar raised the matter to the High Court, arguing that his term of office as COA chair is up to Feb. 2, 2015, or seven years from Feb. 2, 2008 when he was appointed to that position.

While his petition was still pending, Villar wrote President Aquino in February last year signifying his intention to step down from office upon the appointment of his replacement. He vacated his post upon appointment of Ma. Gracia Pulido-Tan as new chair.

While the case has been deemed moot due to Tan’s appointment and Villar’s resignation, the SC saw the need to promulgate the case for its “transcendental importance, since it obviously has ‘far-reaching implications,’ and there is a need to promulgate rules that will guide the bench, bar, and the public in future analogous cases.”