URBANO v.
CHAVEZ
DOCTRINE: Accordingly, the Court is of the opinion, and so holds that the Office of the Solicitor
General is not authorized to represent a public official at any stage of a criminal case or in a civil suit for
damages arising from a felony. This pronouncement applies to all public officials and employees in the
executive, legislative and judicial branches of the Government.
FACTS: The case at bar involved two consolidated cases with the following facts:
1) G.R. No. 87977
Criminal Case filed by Urbano and Acapulco against DILG Secretary Santos for
alleged violation of the provisions of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. The
Office of the Solicitor General entered its appearance as counsel for the said
respondents as far as the preliminary investigation of the case is concerned, which
prompted Urbano and Acapulco to question such appearance on the basis that acting as
counsel for Secretary Santos will run in conflict with the Office of the Solicitor General’s
role as the appellate counsel of the People of the Philippines.
2) G.R. No. 88578
Civil Case for Damages filed by Co against Solicitor Chavez alleged that the
defendant maliciously published a defamatory imputations against Co, while he was
the counsel of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), stating that
he was involved in some anomalous transactions relating to the funds of the national
government during the time that President Marcos was in office. The Office of the
Solicitor General filed a motion to dismiss on behalf of the defendant. The petitioner
contended that he was suing the defendant in his personal capacity for acts which he
committed beyond the scope of his authority and as such he cannot be represented by
the said Office in the civil suit instituted with the trial court.
In both instances, the Office of the Solicitor General assailed the position that it was
authorized to represent any public official even if the said official was sued in his personal capacity
pursuant to the unconditional provisions of Presidential Decree No. 478 which defines the functions of
the said Office, as well as Executive Order No. 300 issued on July 26, 1987 which made the said office an
independent agency under the Office of the President of the Philippines.
ISSUE: W/N the Office of the Solicitor General can represent a public officer or employee in the
preliminary investigation of a criminal action or in a civil action for damages.
RULING: The herein Petitions are hereby GRANTED. The Office of the Solicitor General is
permanently prohibited from representing the said respondents.
RATIO: Inasmuch as the State can speak and act only by law, whatever it does say and do must
be lawful, and that which is unlawful is not the word or deed of the State, but is the mere wrong or
trespass of those individual persons who falsely speak and act in its name. Therefore, the accused public
official should not expect the State, through the Office of the Solicitor General, to defend him for a
wrongful act which cannot be attributed to the State itself. In the same light, a public official who is sued
in a criminal case is actually sued in his personal capacity inasmuch as his principal, the State, can never
be the author of a wrongful act, much less commit a crime.
Thus, the Court rules that the Office of the Solicitor General is not authorized to
represent a public official at any stage of a criminal case. For this reason, the doctrine announced in
Anti-Graft League of the Philippines, Inc. v. Hon. Ortega and Solicitor General v. Garrido 11, and all
decided cases affirming the same; in so far as they are inconsistent with this pronouncement, should be
deemed abandoned.
This observation should apply as well to a public official who is haled to court on a civil suit for
damages arising from a felony allegedly committed by him. Any pecuniary liability he may be held to
account for on the occasion of such civil suit is for his own account. The State is not liable for the same.
A fortiori, the Office of the Solicitor General likewise has no authority to represent him in such a civil
suit for damages.
1
“The office of the Solicitor General is authorized to enter its appearance as counsel for any public official, against
whom a criminal charge had been instituted, during the preliminary investigation stage thereof. Nevertheless, in
the same case, this Court held that once an information is led against the public official, the Office of the Solicitor
General can no longer represent the said official in the litigation.”
