2) Luis FLORESCA, petitioner, vs. Amparo QUETULIO, respondent.

To reinstate Floresca would be to allow a government official to subordinate

Municipality Of San Francisco, Southern Leyte, respondentsappellees. public interest to personal comfort and convenience.
G.R. No. L2215. November 22, 1948
Petition DENIED.
TOPIC: Termination of official relations - Abandonment

DOCTRINE: A judicial officers refusal to go back to his old post and Justice Perfecto, concurring:
subsequent acceptance of other employments, without any pretense on his
part that he simultaneously continued to perform his official functions show The constitutional guarantee of judicial tenure of office, as provided for
deliberate abandonment of office. in section 8, of Article VIII of the Constitution, is not a carte blanche for a
judicial officer to freely relinquish his court position and to claim it at
FACTS: any time at his pleasure. A judicial office is not a private property that the
Petitioner Floresca was a pre-war justice of the peace of Piddig, Carasi occupant, at his discretion, may lend to others and reoccupy again.
and Nagpapalcan in Ilocos Norte.
When required by authorities to assume his prewar post after the A judicial position may be lost by:
liberation, Floresca refused to do so and pointed out that the salary of the 1. resignation,
position could not then sustain his family. 2. renunciation, or
Meanwhile, Floresca accepted several other employments: 3. abandonment.
1. Junior legal assistant The constitutional guarantee of Judicial tenure is, in such cases, waived.
2. civilian investigator of the Provost Marshal Office in the Gabu U. S
Army Air Base at Laoag, Ilocos Norte Floresca has renounced the position of justice of the peace he is claiming.
3. Senior social worker in PRATRA for Ilocos Norte (shortly after the Because of that waiver, he has lost all title to occupy again the judgeship
inauguration of the Republic of PH) hence, petition must be dismissed.
Subsequently, he filed the present petition:
o praying for his reinstatement as justice of the peace alleging that
that he was not reappointed either upon the restoration of the
Commonwealth Government or upon the establishment of the
Republic of the Philippines, in violation of his constitutional tenure;
and
o seeking to oust respondent Quetulio from said position.
Quetulio asserts her right to stay in view of Florescas abandonment
of said office.

ISSUE: Whether Floresca can be reinstated to his former post? - NO

HELD:
No, petitioner Florescas refusal to go back to his old post and his
subsequent acceptance of other employments, without any pretense on his
part that he simultaneously continued to perform the functions of justice of
the peace, clearly show deliberate abandonment of the latter office.

Likewise, in his application submitted to the committee in charge of passing

upon applications for government positions in Ilocos Norte, he made it clear
that he wanted to be appointed to any position other than that of justice
of the peace.