VILLENA VS SEC INTERIOR

GR NO L-46570
APR 21 1939
J LAUREL

FACTS
Respondent recommended the suspension of the mayor of Makati Villena, which was
then approved. However, Villena claimed that respondent has no jurisdiction over
the matter for only local governments has that power to suspend him.

ISSUE
W/N the Sec Int can suspend an LGU official under investigation

RULING
YES.

The fact that the power of suspension is expressly granted by Sec 2188 of the
Administrative Code to the provincial governor does not mean that the grant is
necessarily exclusive and precludes the Secretary of the Interior from exercising a
similar power. If the President could, in the manner prescribed by law, remove a
municipal official, it would be a legal incongruity if he were to be devoid of the
lesser power of suspension. And the incongruity would be more patent if, possessed
of the power both to suspend and to remove a provincial official (sec. 2078,
Administrative Code), the President were to be without the power to suspend a
municipal official. The power to suspend a municipal official is not exclusive.
Preventive suspension may be issued to give way for an impartial investigation.