Incompatible Offices and the Corporate Nature of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) : The Case of [Ex] Senator Richard Gordon as Chairman of the PNRC Board

Last January 18, 2011, the Supreme Court en banc promulgated its Resolution in the case of Liban, et al. vs. Gordon, G.R. No. 175352. The Court GRANTED partial reconsideration and MODIFIED the dispositive portion of its July 15, 2009 Decision. Thus, the High Tribunal MAINTAINED its holding that respondent Gordon did not forfeit his legislative seat when he was elected as PNRC Chairman during his incumbency as Senator but DELETED the pronouncement in the Decision that the PNRC Charter, R.A. 95, as amended, is void insofar as it creates the PNRC as a private corporation. It ruled that the constitutional issue regarding the PNRC charter was not the lis mota of the case; hence, the Court should not have passed upon it. It also declared that the PNRC is sui generis in nature; it is neither strictly a GOCC nor a private corporation. Thus, R.A. No. 95, as amended, remains valid and constitutional in its entirety.