Upon petition of Roque Senarillos (appellee before us) and  after due  hearing, Judge M. M. Mejia of the  Court of First Instance of Cebu (in Case No. R-4001), issued a writ of mandamus to compel the  respondents Municipal Mayor and  Council  of Sibonga, Cebu, to reinstate  petitioner to the position of Chief of Police of Sibonga, Cebu, declaring null  and void his  removal from that post,  although the  same was approved  by the council and confirmed by the Director of Civil  Service and the Board of Civil Service Appeals; and required the respondents Municipal Treasurer of Sibonga and Provincial Treasurer of Cebu to  pay petitioner Senarillos  his  salary at P840.00 per annum from January 3, 1952, and taxing costs against respondents  Municipal Mayor  and Council  of Sibonga. Respondents have appealed.

The parties  are agreed that Roque Senarillos, being a civil  service eligible,  was appointed Chief of Police of Sibonga, Cebu, and served as such until January 2, 1952. On that  date, upon charges filed by one Roque Geraldizo and  despite his denials, Senarillos  was suspended  by the Municipal Mayor of Sibonga, and investigated by a  "police committee"  composed  of three councilors,  created by Resolution No. 2,  Series 1952, of the municipal council.  Notwithstanding express protest on  the part of Senarillos that the investigation should not be conducted by a committee, but  by full  council,  as provided  by Republic Act 557, the committee  proceeded to try his case, and on April  15, 1952, rendered an adverse decision, signed later  by the members of the  municipal  council.  This  decision was appealed to, and  on August 28, 1952,  was  affirmed by, the Commissioner of Civil Service, and later in October, 1954, by the Civil Service Board of Appeals.

In  the meantime, upon the expiration of the original period of suspension, Municipal Mayor Hermosisima again suspended  Senarillos  on the  strength of  Administrative Case No. V-6, which was never  tried; and as  the  sixty. days  of the second suspension expired, the Chief of Police was  reinstated on May 25, 1952 However on July  9, 1952  the Municipal Mayor filed a criminal case for swindling against Senarillos, and suspended him  for  the third time.  The criminal case was dismissed on July  28, 1954. Then on  April 27, 1955, Senarillos  resorted  to the Court of First Instance  for  relief.

That  the investigation  of  police officers under  Republic Act No. 557 (as distinguished from  section  2272 of the  Administrative Code)  must be  conducted  by the council itself,  and not  by a  mere  committee thereof,  is now  established  jurisprudence and  no longer  open  to question since  our decision in Festejo vs. Mayor of  Nabua, 96 Phil., 286;  51 Off. Gaz. p. 121,  reaffirmed in subsequent decisions. 

"The second reason for invalidating the investigation is  the fact that  the  charges were investigated by a  committee  of the city council, not by the council itself.  While  it is true that  we had held in Santos vs. Mendoza, 48 Off. Gaz., No. 11, p. 4801, that such a procedure  is valid, the law has been  changed since  the  above decision.  Republic Act No. 557 has eliminated the provision authorizing  investigation by a committee of the  council. We  held that the  change meant  that the  investigation should  be by the council itself (Festejo vs. Municipal Mayor of Nabua,  G. R. No. L-4983, prom. December  22, 1954).  We  affirmed this doctrine  in the recent case of Covacha  vs. Amante, G. R. No. L-8358,  promulgated May 25,1956.  The trial court was, therefore, correct in holding that the investigation proceedings were not conducted by the municipal council and in annulling the results  of the investigation.  (Crispin Carmona vs.  Felix P.  Amante, G. R. Nos. 8790-8797,  August  14 1956, 52 Off. Gaz. No. 11, p. 5109).

Therefore, it is  clear that under the present  law, the "police  committee" constituted by the Municipal Council of Sibonga  had  no  jurisdiction  to investigate  the  appellee Chief of  Police; hence the  decision  against  him was   invalid,  even if  concurred  in  by the  rest  of  the councilors, specially since the petitioner  called attention from the  beginning  to  the  impropriety and illegality of the committee's  actuations, and of  his trial by  only some and not all  the  members of the council.  The  subsequent reaffirmation of their decision by the  Civil Service authorities could not validate  a proceeding that was illegal and ab initio void.

That the decision of the Municipal Council of Sibonga was issued before the decision in  Festejo vs. Mayor  of Nabua  was  rendered,  would  be, at  the  most, proof  of good faith on the part of the police committee, but can not sustain the validity of their action.    It is elementary that  the  interpretation placed by  this Court upon Republic Act 557 constitutes part of the law as of the date it was  originally passed,  since this Court's construction merely  establishes the contemporaneous legislative intent that the interpreted law carried into  effect.

Respondents also claim  that petitioner was guilty  of laches,  on the  strength  of Unabia vs. Mayor of Cebu, 99  Phil.,  258 and related  decisions.   Suffice  it to observe that the persistent efforts  of  the appellee to secure from the  Civil Service authorities  a reversal  of  the  unlawful decisions of the Municipal Council of Sibonga, and the harassment and prosecution to which he was subjected by the mayor, who suspended petitioner-appellee three times, are more than adequate evidence that the appellee did not sleep on his rights or abandon his office.  His  appeal was finally decided by the Civil Service on October of 1954, and this case was filed less than a year later, in April 1955.

The decision  appealed from is affirmed, with the sole modification that the reimbursement of  petitioner-appellee's  salary  shall  not include the  pay corresponding  to the  period from  May 26  to  July  8,  1952,  since it was stipulated (p. 14) that he was paid for that time.  Costs against  respondents,  Municipal  Mayor  and Council  of Sibonga,  Cebu.   So ordered.

Paras,  C. J., Bengzon, Padilla, Montemayor,  Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Endencia, and Felix, JJ., concur.