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Felix vs. Buenaseda

Dr. Alfredo Felix was appointed to several temporary positions at the National Center for Mental Health, including Senior Resident Physician and Medical Specialist I. His appointment as Medical Specialist I was not renewed due to his lack of board certification and poor performance reviews. Dr. Felix filed a complaint claiming the non-renewal was illegal, but the Merit System Protection Board and Civil Service Commission dismissed his complaint. The Supreme Court ruled that Dr. Felix had accepted a series of fixed-term contracts and the hospital was within its rights to not renew his temporary appointment when it expired given his deficiencies.

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579 views3 pages

Felix vs. Buenaseda

Dr. Alfredo Felix was appointed to several temporary positions at the National Center for Mental Health, including Senior Resident Physician and Medical Specialist I. His appointment as Medical Specialist I was not renewed due to his lack of board certification and poor performance reviews. Dr. Felix filed a complaint claiming the non-renewal was illegal, but the Merit System Protection Board and Civil Service Commission dismissed his complaint. The Supreme Court ruled that Dr. Felix had accepted a series of fixed-term contracts and the hospital was within its rights to not renew his temporary appointment when it expired given his deficiencies.

Uploaded by

Balaod Maricor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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67

Alfredo B. Felix
versus
Dr. Brigida Buenaseda, In Her Capacity As Director, And Isabelo Bañez, Jr., In His
Capacity As Administrator, Both Of The National Center For Mental Health, And
The Civil Service Commission

G.R. No. 109704, January 17, 1995

FACTS:

Dr. Alfredo Felix joined the National Center for Mental Health (NCMC) as a
resident Physician. After 3 years he was promoted as Senior Resident Physician, a
position he held until NCMC was reorganized pursuant to Executive Order 119. Under
the reorganization, he was appointed to the position of Senior Resident Physician in a
temporary capacity immediately after he and other employees of the NCMH allegedly
tendered their courtesy resignations to the Secretary of Health. He was later promoted to
the position of Medical Specialist I (Temporary Status), which position was renewed the
following year. The Department of Health issued Department Order No. 347 which
required board certification as a prerequisite for renewal of specialist positions in various
medical centers, hospitals and agencies of the said department for the purpose of
upgrading the quality of specialties in DOH hospitals by requiring them to pass rigorous
theoretical and clinical (bedside) examinations given by recognized specialty boards, in
keeping up with international standards of medical practice.DO 347 provided extensions
of appointments of Medical Specialist positions in cases where the termination of medical
specialist who failed to meet the requirement for board certification might result in the
disruption of hospital services.

Dr. Felix was one of the medical specialists adversely affected of DO 347 since he
was not yet accredited by the Psychiatry Specialty Board. Under Department Order No.
478, extension of his appointment remained subject to the guidelines set by the said
department order. Sometime in 1991, after reviewing Dr. Felix's service record and
performance, his appointment as MS-I was not renewed. However, he was allowed to
continue in the service, and receive his salary, allowances and other benefits even after
being informed of the termination of his appointment. Sometime in 1992, the appointment
of Dr. Felix was not renewed due to poor performance, frequent tardiness and inflexibility
and was advised to vacate his cottage. Dr. Felix then filed a petition with the Merit
System Protection Board (MSPB) complaining about the alleged harassment by the
hospital and questioning the non-renewal of his appointment as illegal and violative of the
constitutional provision on security of tenure.

ISSUE:
Whether or not Dr. Felixis under a fixed term contract and whether the non-
renewal of his service was valid.

MERIT SYSTEM PROTECTION BOARD (MSPB):

The MSPB dismissed petitioner's complaint for lack of merit. The renewal of a
temporary appointment upon or after its expiration is a matter largely addressed to the
sound discretion of the appointing authority. His re-appointment to his former position or
68

the renewal of his temporary appointment would be determined solely by the proper
appointing authority who is the Secretary, Department of Health upon the favorable
recommendation of the Chief of Hospital III, NCMH.

CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION:


The decision was appealed to the Civil Service Commission which dismissed the
same. Motion for Reconsideration was also denied.

SUPREME COURT:

The Court ruled that Dr. Felix was under fixed term contract. The court explained:

It is clear that Dr. Felix accepted a temporary appointment (Medical


Specialist I). The appointment was for a definite and renewable period which,
when it was not renewed, did not involve a dismissal but an expiration of the
petitioner's term.

The non-renewal of his service was valid. The position of senior resident
physician, which he held at the time of the government reorganization, the next
logical step in the stepladder process was obviously his promotion to the rank of
Medical Specialist I, a position which he apparently accepted not only because of
the increase in salary and rank but because of the prestige and status which the
promotion conferred upon him in the medical community. Such status, however,
clearly carried with it certain professional responsibilities including the
responsibility of keeping up with the minimum requirements of specialty rank, the
responsibility of keeping abreast with current knowledge in his specialty rank, the
responsibility of completing board certification requirements within a reasonable
period of time. The evaluation made by the petitioner's peers and superiors clearly
showed that he was deficient in a lot of areas, in addition to the fact that at the
time of his non-renewal, he was not even board-certified.

It bears emphasis that at the time of petitioner's promotion to the position


of Medical Specialist I (temporary), no objection was raised by him about the
change of position or the temporary nature of designation. Dr. Felix is estopped
from insisting upon a right or claim which he had plainly abandoned when he,
from all indications, enthusiastically accepted the promotion. His negligence to
assert his claim within a reasonable time, coupled with his failure to repudiate his
promotion to a temporary position, warrants a presumption, in the words of this
Court in Tijam vs. Sibonghanoy, that he "either abandoned (his claim) or declined
to assert it."

There are weighty reasons of public policy and convenience which


demand that any claim to any position in the civil service, permanent, temporary
of otherwise, or any claim to a violation of the constitutional provision on security
of tenure be made within a reasonable period of time.
69

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