04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly Chapter 2 - Ordinance Power Section 2. Executive Orders. — Acts of the President providing for rules of a general or permanent character in implementation or execution of constitutional or statutory powers shall be promulgated in executive orders. (emphasis supplied) As Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution has not been previously interpreted by the Court,[85] the present case affords us the chance to do so under the Court’s power and duty of judicial review to determine the constitutionality of the Executive’s interpretation of this provision.[86] C. Midnight appointments: a. The case of Aytona v. Castillo and subsequent cases Section 15, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution traces its jurisprudential roots from the 1962 case of Aytona v. Castillo.[87] As both parties rely on this case and for its proper understanding in the context of the present Constitution, a discussion of Aytona is in order. On December 13, 1961, Congress proclaimed Diosdado Macapagal as the newly elected President of the Philippines. On December 29, 1961, outgoing President Carlos Garcia appointed Dominador Aytona as ad interim Governor of the Central Bank. On the same day, Aytona took his oath of office. On December 30, 1961, President-elect Diosdado Macapagal assumed office. On the following day, he issued Administrative Order (A.O.) No. 2 cancelling all ad interim appointments made by President Garcia after December 13, 1961. On January 1, 1962, President Macapagal appointed Andres Castillo as ad interim Governor of the Central Bank. Castillo assumed and qualified for his post immediately. Because of A.O. No. 2, Aytona instituted a quo warranto proceeding against Castillo before this Court. He questioned the validity of the appointments made by outgoing President Garcia and raised the question of whether A.O. No. 2 was valid. Even without the equivalent of the present Section 15, Article VII (of the 1987 Constitution) in the then 1935 Constitution, the Court refused to recognize the validity of Aytona’s appointment. The Court regarded the issuance of 350 appointments in one night and the planned induction of almost all of them a few hours before the inauguration of the new President as an abuse by the outgoing President of his presidential prerogatives. The filling of vacancies in important positions, if few, and so spaced to afford some assurance of deliberate action and careful consideration of the need for the appointment and the appointee's qualifications may undoubtedly be permitted. But the issuance of 350 appointments in one night and planned induction of almost all of them a few hours before the inauguration of the new President may, with some reason, be regarded by the latter as an abuse of Presidential prerogatives, the steps taken being apparently a mere partisan effort to elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/60717 42/75