PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 047 7/5/20, 4:59 PM

[No. 23226. March 4, 1925]

VICENTE SEGOVIA, petitioner and appellee, vs. PEDRO

NOEL, respondent and appellant.

1. PUBLIC OFFICERS; RETIREMENT OF JUSTICES OF

THE PEACE ON AcCOUNT OF AGE; ACT No. 3107,
AMENDATORY OF SECTION 203 OF THE
ADMINISTRATIVE CODE, CONSTRUED.·The proviso
added to section 203 of the Administrative Code by section 1
of Act No. 3107, providing that justices and auxiliary
justices of the peace shall be appointed to serve until they
have reached the age of sixty-five years, should be given
prospective effect only. The law is not applicable to justices
of the peace and auxiliary justices of the peace appointed
before it went into effect.

2. ID. ; ID. ; ID.·Though there is no vested right to an office,

which may not be disturbed by legislation, yet the
incumbent has, in a sense, a right to his office. If that right
is to be taken away by statute, the terms should be clear in
which the purpose is stated.

3. ID.; ID.; ID.; OFFICE AS PROPERTY OR CONTRACT.·A

public office cannot be regarded as the property of the
incumbent. A public office is not a contract.

4. ID. ; ID. ; ID. ; STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION ; RULES AS

TO RETROACTIVE EFFECT OF STATUTES.·A statute
operates prospectively and never retroactively, unless the
legislative intent to the contrary is made manifest either by
the express terms of the statute or by necessary implication.
A statute ought not to receive a construction making it act
retroactively, unless the words used are so clear, strong, and
imperative that no other meaning can be annexed to them,
or unless the intention of the legislature cannot be

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PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 047 7/5/20, 4:59 PM

otherwise satisfied.

544

544 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED

Segovia vs. Noel

APPEAL from a judgment of the Court of First Instance of

Cebu. Wislizenus, J.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.
Provincial Fiscal Diaz for appellant.
Del Rosario & Del Rosario for appellee.
Vicente Zacarias as amicus curiÕ.

MALCOLM, J.:

The question to be decided on this appeal is whether that

portion of Act No. 3107 which provides, that justices of the
peace and auxiliary justices of the peace shall be appointed
to serve until they have reached the age of sixtyfive years,
should be given retroactive or prospective effect.
Vicente Segovia was appointed justice of the peace of
Dumanjug, Cebu, on January 21, 1907. He continuously
occupied this position until having passed sixty-five
milestones, he was ordered by the Secretary of Justice on
July 1, 1924, to vacate the office. Since that date, Pedro
Noel, the auxiliary justice of the peace has acted as justice
of the peace for the municipality of Dumanjug.
Mr. Segovia being desirous of avoiding a public scandal
and of opposing physical resistance to the occupancy of the
office of justice of the peace by the auxiliary justice of the
peace, instituted f riendly quo warranto proceedings in the
Court of First Instance of Cebu to inquire into the right of
Pedro Noel to occupy the office of justice of the peace, to
oust the latter therefrom, and to procure reinstatement as
justice of the peace of Dumanjug. To this complaint, Pedro
Noel interposed a demurrer on the ground that it did not
allege facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action,
because Act No. 3107 was constitutional and because Mr.
Segovia being sixty-five years old had automatically ceased
to be justice of the peace. On the issue thus framed and on
stipulated facts, judgment was rendered by Honorable

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PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 047 7/5/20, 4:59 PM

Adolph Wislizenus, Judge of First Instance, overruling the

demurrer, and in favor of petitioner and against
respondent.

545

VOL. 47, MARCH 4, 1925 545

Segovia vs. Noel

Proceeding by way of elimination so as to resolve the case

into its simplest factors, it will first be noted that the
petitioner abandons the untenable position, assumed by
him in one portion of his complaint, to the effect that
section 1 of Act No. 3107 is unconstitutional in that it
impairs the contractual right of the petitioner to an office.
It is a fundamental principle that a public office cannot be
regarded as the property of the incumbent, and that a
public office is not a contract.
It will next be noted that, while the respondent as
appellant assigns three errors in this court, the first two
relating to preliminary matters are ultimately renounced
by him in order that there may be an authoritative decision
on the main issue. The third error specified and argued
with ability by the provincial fiscal of Cebu, is that the trial
judge erred in declaring that the limitation regarding the
age of justices of the peace provided by section 1 of Act No.
3107 is not applicable to justices of the peace and auxiliary
justices of the peace appointed and acting before said law
went into effect.
Coming now to the law, we find on investigation the
original provision pertinent to the appointment and term of
office of justices of the peace, in section 67 of Act No. 136,
wherein it was provided that justices of the peace shall
hold office during the pleasure of the Commission. Act No.
1450, in force when Vicente Segovia was originally
appointed justice of the peace, amended section 67 of the
Judiciary Law by making the term of office of justices and
auxiliary justices of the peace two years from the first
Monday in January nearest the date of appointment.
Shortly after Segovia's appointment, however, the law was
again amended by Act No. 1627 by providing that "all
justices of the peace and auxiliary justices of the peace

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PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 047 7/5/20, 4:59 PM

shall hold office during good behavior and those now in

office shall so continue." Later amended by Acts Nos. 2041
and 2617, the law was ultimately codified in sections 203
and 206 of the Administrative Code.

546

546 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED

Segovia, vs. Noel

Codal section 203 in its first paragraph provides that "one

justice of the peace and one auxiliary justice of the peace
shall be appointed by the Governor-General for the City of
Manila, the City of Baguio, and for each municipality,
township, and municipal district in the Philippine Islands,
and if the public interests shall so require, for any other
minor political division or unorganized territory in said
Islands." It was this section which section 1 of Act No. 3107
amended by adding at the end thereof the following
proviso: "Provided, That justices and auxiliary justices of
the peace shall be appointed to serve until they have
reached the age of sixty-five years." But section 206 of the
Administrative Code entitled "Tenure of office," and
reading "a justice of the peace having the requisite legal
qualifications shall hold office during good behavior unless
his office be lawfully abolished or merged in the jurisdiction
of some other justice," was left unchanged by Act No. 3107.
A sound canon of statutory construction is that a statute
operates prospectively only and never retroactively, unless
the legislative intent to the contrary is made manifest
either by the express terms of the statute or by necessary
implication. Following the lead of the United States
Supreme Court and putting the rule more strongly, a
statute ought not to receive a construction making it act
retroactively, unless the words used are so clear, strong,
and imperative that no other meaning can be annexed to
them, or unless the intention of the legislature cannot be
otherwise satisfied. No court will hold a statute to be
retroactive when the legislature has not said so. As our
Civil Code has it in article 3, "Law shall not have a
retroactive effect unless therein otherwise provided."
(Farrel vs. Pingree [1888], 5 Utah, 443; 16 Pac., 843; Greer

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vs. City of Asheville [1894], 114 N. C., 495; United States

Fidelity & Guaranty Co. vs. Struthers Wells Co. [1907], 209
U. S., 306; Montilla vs. Agustinian Corporation

547

VOL. 47, MARCH 4, 1925 547

Segovia vs. Noel

[1913], 24 Phil., 220; In re will of Riosa [1918], 39 Phil., 23.)

The same rule is followed by the courts with reference to
public offices. A well-known New York decision held that
"though there is no vested right in an office, which may not
be disturbed by legislation, yet the incumbent has, in a
sense, a right to his office. If that right is to be taken away
by statute, the terms should be clear in which the purpose
is stated." (People ex rel. Ryan vs. Green [1874], 58 N. Y.,
295.) In another case, a new constitutional provision as to
the advanced age which should prevent the incumbents of
certain judicial offices from retaining them was held
prospective; it did not apply to persons in office at the time
of its taking effect. (People vs. Gardner, 59 Barb., 198; II
Lewis' Sutherland Statutory Construction, Chap. XVII,
particularly pages 1161, 1162; Mechem on Public Officers,
sec. 389.)
The case at bar is not the same as the case of Chanco vs.
Imperial ([1916], 34 Phil., 329). In that case, the question
was as to the validity of section 7 of Act No. 2347. The law
under consideration not only provided that Judges of First
Instance shall serve until they have reached the age of
sixty-five years, but it further provided "that the present
judges of Courts of First Instance * * * Vacate their
positions on the taking effect of this Act: and the Governor-
General, with the advice and consent of the Philippine
Commission, shall make new appointments of judges of
Courts of First Instance * * *." There, the intention of the
Legislature to vacate the office was clearly expressed. Here,
it is not expressed at all.
The language of Act No. 3107 amendatory of section 203
of the Administrative Code, gives no indication of
retroactive effect. The law signifies no purpose of operating

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PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 047 7/5/20, 4:59 PM

upon existing rights. A proviso was merely tacked on to

section 203 of the Administrative Code, while leaving
intact section 206 of the same Code which permits justices

548

548 PHILIPPINE REPORTS ANNOTATED

Aldanese vs. Salutillo

of the peace to hold office during good behavior. In the

absence of provisions expressly making the law applicable
to justices of the peace then in office, and in the absence of
provisions impliedly indicative of such legislative intent,
the courts would not be justified in giving the law an
interpretation which would legislate faithful public
servants out of office.
Answering the question with which we began our
decision, we hold that the proviso added to section 203 of
the Administrative Code by section 1 of Act No. 3107,
providing that justices and auxiliary justices of the peace
shall be appointed to serve until they have reached the age
of sixty-five years, should be given prospective effect only,
and so is not applicable to justices of the peace and
auxiliary justices of the peace appointed before Act No.
3107 went into force. Consequently, it results that the
decision of the trial court is correct in its findings of fact
and law and in its disposition of the case.
Judgment affirmed, without costs. It is so ordered.

Villamor, Ostrand, Johns, and Romualdez, JJ., concur.

Johnson, J., concurs in the result.

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