The Department of Justice (DOJ) has opined that the administrator of the National Tobacco Administration cannot appoint the agency’s representative to the Inter-Agency Committee–Tabacco (IAC-T).
In a legal opinion, the DOJ through Undersecretary Raul Vasquez, stressed that under Republic Act No. 9211, the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, “department secretaries may designate their undersecretaries as their authorized representative to IAC-T.”
The legal opinion was addressed to Consumer Policy and Advocacy Bureau Director M. Marcus Valdez II of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
The DOJ said under the law, the IAC-T is co-chaired by the secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the secretary of the Department of Health (DOH).
According to the Justice department, the law also provides that the IAC-T should be composed of the administrator of the NTA, a representative of the tobacco industry, a representative of a
non-government organization (NGO) in public health promotion nominated by the DOH in consultation with concerned NGOs, and the secretaries of the DOJ, DOH, Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and Department of Education (DepEd). Rey E. Requejo
“It is an elementary rule in statutory construction that when the words and phrases of the statute are clear and unequivocal, their meaning must be determined from the language employed and the statute
must be taken to mean what it says. There can be no speculation as to the probable intent of the legislature apart from the words. When the law is clear, it is not susceptible of interpretation,” Vasquez said in the legal opinion.
The DOJ official emphasized that the “IAC-T is mandated to balance the State’s policy in regulating the use, sale and advertisements of tobacco products, to promote a healthful environment and protect its
citizens from the hazards of tobacco smoke, and at the same time, ensure that the interests of tobacco farmers, growers, workers and stakeholders are not adversely compromised.”
“Where, however, a public officer is authorized to appoint a deputy, the authority of that deputy (the alternate in this case), unless otherwise limited, is commensurate with that of the officer himself,
and, in the absence of any showing to the contrary, will be so presumed. It has been held that a duly designated deputy may do any act that his principal might do; he cannot have less power than the
principal. Corollary to this is the legal principle that the agent, alternate or representative cannot have a better right than his principal; and the laws, rules, prohibitions or restrictions that cover the principal member apply with equal force to his representative,” he pointed out.
