[ EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 8, January 02, 1936 ]

ENFORCING THE PROVISIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION ON THE CIVIL SERVICE



WHEREAS section one of Article XI of the Constitution of the Philippines provides as follows:

œA Civil Service embracing all branches and subdivisions of the Government shall be provided by law. Appointments in the Civil Service, except as to those which are policy-determining, primarily confidential or highly technical in nature, shall be made only according to merit and fitness, to be determined as far as practicable by competitive examination ; and

WHEREAS pending enactment of appropriate legislation embracing all branches and subdivisions of the Government for inclusion in the Civil Service it is desirable in the interest of good government to give immediate effect to the constitutional precept requiring the filling of positions in the Civil Service through competitive examination;

Now, therefore, I, Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution and pursuant to the provisions of the Civil Service Law hereby direct:

1. That all appointments except to those positions which are œpolicy-determining, primarily confidential or highly technical in nature  shall hereafter be subject to competitive examination;

2. That the exemption from competitive examination heretofore made by administrative decision in favor of graduates of the Philippine Normal School, the Philippine School of Arts and Trades, the Philippine General Hospital School of Nursing, the Southern Islands Hospital School of Nursing, and the School of Forestry of the University of the Philippines are hereby declared inoperative;

3. That the question of whether a position is œpolicy-determining, primarily confidential or highly technical in nature  shall be decided as soon as each case is submitted for determination with the comment and recommendation of the corresponding Head of Department and the Director of Civil Service;

4. That persons who are already in the service but who are not in the exempt classes as permitted by the Constitution will be allowed a reasonable time, not exceeding one year from the date of the first examination to be held, within which to qualify.

This Order shall take effect as of January first, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, and shall continue in force until otherwise modified or repealed.

Done at the City of Manila, this second day of January, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and thirty-six, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the first.

MANUEL L. QUEZON
President of the Philippines

By the President:

TEOFILO SISON
Secretary of the Interior