This is an action having for  its purpose the issuance of a  writ of mandamus  directed to the Board  of  Pharmacy of the Philippine Islands requiring it to issue to the plaintiff such certificate or license as shall legally authorize  him to practice  the profession  of pharmacy in the  Philippine Islands.

The question before us arises on  the interposition of a demurrer to the complaint.

It is alleged  in the application  for  the mandamus that the plaintiff is a resident of the Philippine Islands and that; prior to the ratification  of the Treaty of Paris he was and now is an alumnus of the College of Pharmacy of Spain, having pursued and successfully passed all of the  studies prescribed by such college and having ail of the qualifications required of pharmacists in  the  Philippine Islands; that from 1887 to 1895 he was duly registered and licensed to practice  his profession in the Province of Antique,  Panay, Philippine Islands; that  during said time he  did so practice his profession in said place, being the  proprietor of  a drug  store which  he himself  conducted;  that such license has never been revoked  or cancelled; that during the Spanish  regime pharmacists, like  the  plaintiff, graduates of the College of Pharmacy who had pursued the studies required for such graduation,  who  possessed the qualifications necessary for the exercise  of that profession, and who were empowered by competent  authority to practice, had the  same professional consideration, the  same rights and obligations, as graduates in pharmacy of the University of Santo Tomas of  Manila, and their certificates and licenses had the same force and effect as those issued from said college; that prior to the commencement of the action the  plaintiff had demanded in  due form of the Board of Pharmacy of the Philippine Islands the issuance to him of a license and  certificate  of  registry as a practicing pharmacist in pursuance of  section 9  of Act No. 597 of  the Philippine  Commission;  that said  Board  had refused  to issue such license or certificate, alleging as a reason therefor that the plaintiff had not registered as  required by section 11 of said law and did not possess the qualifications prescribed by the statute.

The complaint further alleges that said Board in refusing to issue to the plaintiff a license  or certificate of registry as a pharmacist has  failed to fulfill a clear legal duty,  expressly laid upon it by the clear terms of the law> thereby depriving the plaintiff of the right to practice his legitimate profession and illegally excluding him from hid personal and professional rights to his great damage and injury.

The plaintiff further alleges, by way of excusing himself for  his failure to register within  the 120  days after the promulgation of said Act No. 597, as provided by section 11 thereof, that at the time said law took effect and during the  succeeding 120 days thereafter, the plaintiff was in the  interior  of the Island of Negros,  detained there by reasons over which he had no  control, and was not informed and did not know  of the requirements laid down by said section 11 of Act No. 597; that as  soon as he became aware thereof he presented to the Governor-General of the Philippine Islands a petition praying that he be permitted to register as a pharmacist under said section, although the time prescribed by said section had expired; that said petition was  accompanied by a certificate signed by various pharmacists  of Panay and Negros, stating that he was a licensed pharmacist and that, by reason of  having been in the interior  of the Island of Negros during the 120 days next succeeding the passage  of said Act, he was unable to conform with  the requirements  thereof; that in spite of all his efforts he has been unable up to the present time to secure his registration as  a licensed pharmacist.

Act No. 597 of  the Philippine  Commission  is  entitled "An Act regulating the practice  of pharmacy in the Philippine Islands."

Section 3 of that Act reads in part as follows: 

"The Board shall issue  four forms of certificates of registration, as follows:

(a)  A certificate as registered  pharmacist to any person of twenty-one  or more years of age,  of good habits and moral character, holding a degree or diploma as doctor or licentiate from a reputable and well-known school, who has had at least four years of practical experience in some place where drugs, medicines, and poisons were  dispensed and sold at  retail, and the prescriptions of physicians  compounded, and who has been examined and favorably passed upon by the Board, which certificate shall be signed by a majority of the members of the Board.

" (b) A certificate as registered pharmacist of the second class (practicante de farmacia) to any person twenty-one or more years of age, of good habits and moral character, who has had at least three years of practical  experience in some place where drugs, medicines, and poisons  were dispensed and  sold at  retail, and where physicians' prescriptions were compounded, and who has been examined and favorably passed upon by the Board, which certificate shall be signed by a majority of the members of  the Board.

"(c) A certificate as apprentice in pharmacy to any person of good habits and moral character reported by a registered pharmacist, or registered pharmacist of the. second class  (practicante de farmacia}, as having been  taken into his employ as a student of pharmacy or an  apprentice for the purpose of becoming a pharmacist.

"(d) A  certificate as Chinese druggist to any person twenty-one or more years  of age and of good habits and moral character who shall submit to the Board of Pharmaceutical Examiners a certificate from the Chinese consul at Manila that he is competent and  qualified to conduct a Chinese drug store in accordance with the laws and customs of the Chinese Empire, together with such other evidence as to his fitness to conduct such a store as the Board may require."

Section 7 of said Act reads:

"Sixty days  after  the first meeting of  the  Board  of Pharmaceutical  Examiners  for the  Philippine  Islands it shall be unlawful for any person to practice pharmacy in any of its branches in the Philippine Islands  without  a certificate of registration from the Board of Pharmaceutical Examiners."

Section 9 of said Act is as follows:

"Any person who, prior to the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, had received the degree of licentiate in pharmacy from the University of Santo Tomas, in the city of Manila, and who shall  make application to the Board of Pharmaceutical Examiners, shall be granted a certificate of registration as pharmacist by the Board  without further examination on payment of the required fee for registration."

Sections 10 and  11 are as follows:

"Sec. 10. Any person  who,  prior  to the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, had received the title of 'practicante de farmacia' from  the University of Santo Tomas, of the city of Manila, and  who shall make application to the Board of Pharmaceutical Examiners, shall be granted a certificate as second-class pharmacist  (practicante de farmacia) by the Board,  without further examination,  on  payment of the required fee for registration.

"Sec. 11. Every  person engaged in the practice of pharmacy in the  Philippine Islands at the time of the passage of this Act  shall,  within one hundred  and  twenty days from the date of its passage, register with the  secretary-treasurer of  the Board and pay the usual fee of registration, and the secretary-treasurer shall issue the  usual certificate of registration to each person so  registering.   Any person failing  to comply with this  provision within the stated period shall  be required  to appear before the Board and  pass  a  satisfactory examination before  it  shall be lawful for him to again engage  in the practice of pharmacy in the Philippine Islands."

Section 16 provides:

"Every person desiring to begin the practice oi pharmacy in the Philippine Islands  after the passage of this Act shall apply to the Board of Pharmaceutical  Examiners for  a certificate of registration as registered pharmacist, but no certificate  as second-class pharmacist  (practicante de  farmacia) shall be issued to any  such  person by the Board. Each applicant shall submit to an examination in the following subjects:   General chemistry, organic  and inorganic, in an amount covered by a standard college text-book; elements of physics; elements  of botany; pharmacognosy; qualitative analytical chemistry; elements of quantitative analytical chemistry;  practical pharmaceutical preparations and prescriptions; elementary toxicology; and ability to use the microscope.  For each such certificate the secretary-treasurer of the Board  shall collect a fee  of ten  dollars, and the Board of Pharmaceutical Examiners shall issue a certificate of registration as registered pharmacist  to each applicant who passes a  satisfactory examination in these subjects, and  who submits  satisfactory proof that he has had at least two years of practical experience in some place where drugs,  medicines, and  poisons  were  dispensed  and sold at retail  and the  prescriptions  of physicians  compounded, and is a graduate of a legally chartered and reputable school of pharmacy: Provided, That any person not a graduate of such a school of pharmacy who submits satisfactory evidence that he has had at least four years of practical experience in some place where drugs, medicines, and poisons were dispensed  and sold at  retail, and the prescriptions of physicians compounded, and who has satisfactorily passed the  examination aforesaid, shall  receive such  certificate: Provided, also,  That  graduates  of the school of pharmacy of the University of Santo Tomas in the city of Manila who present their certificates  of graduation in pharmacy at the meeting of the Board of Pharmaceutical Examiners on  the second  Tuesday  in February, nineteen hundred and three, shall receive certificates  of registration without further examination.  The  Board is further  empowered to make such rules and regulations not in  conflict with the provisions of this Act as may be necessary to carry said provisions into effect.   In case any applicant shall fail to pass a satisfactory examination  he shall not  again be permitted to  present himself for examination until the period of six months shall have elapsed."

From these provisions of the law it is clear that only two classes of persons may at the present time be admitted to practice pharmacy in the Philippine Islands.   The first class is composed of those who pass the examination specified in the law.  The second class is composed of those who are graduates of the College of  Pharmacy of the University of Santo  Tomas,  who are  admitted without examination. These two classes embrace all of the persons who may at the present time receive licenses or certificates to practice pharmacy in the Philippine Islands.  There are now practicing in the Philippine  Islands persons who compose a third class provided for in  section  11 above quoted.  This class is made up of persons who, at the time of the passage of Act No. 597, were engaged in the practice of pharmacy in the Philippine Islands and who, within one hundred and twenty days from the  date  of  its passage,  registered  with  the secretary-treasurer of the Board as required by the Act and paid the registration fee corresponding.  Under the prohibition of section 7 the practice of pharmacy  by  a person who does not fall within one  of the classes above  named is illegal.  This means that the Board of Pharmacy is without legal authority to issue a license or certificate of registry to any person who  is not embraced within at least one of said classes.

This Act revoked all licenses to practice pharmacy existing at the time it took effect unless the provisions thereof were fully complied with.  A provision was incorporated in .the Act under which existing licenses could be continued in force and effect provided the holder thereof was engaged in the practice of pharmacy at the time the Act was passed. AH licenses which were not continued in force by the proper procedure before the expiration of the term of one hundred and twenty days from the 'passage of the Act were ipso facto revoked and terminated.

It is not alleged in the complaint that the plaintiff  has passed the examination  required by law  or  that he is a graduate of the  College of Pharmacy  of the University of Santo Tomas.  Neither is it  averred that he was engaged in the practice of pharmacy at the time of the passage of Act No. 597, nor that he received or even made application for a certificate during the one hundred and twenty days specified in section 11.  In  fact, it  affirmatively appears from the complaint, and from the argument of counsel for the plaintiff, that has not passed the examination required by law, he is not a graduate of the College of Pharmacy of the University of Santo  Tomas,  and that he was not engaged in the practice of pharmacy at the time of the passage  of Act No. 597, and, therefore, did not register under the provisions of section 11 thereof.  This  being the case,  the complaint shows no legal duty on the part of the Board of Pharmacy to issue to the plaintiff  a certificate or license to practice pharmacy without an examination, but, on the contrary, demonstrates that  said board  would be remiss in its duty under the law if it should  do so.

It is essential to the issuance of the writ of mandamus that the plaintiff have a clear  legal right to the thing demanded  and it must be the  imperative duty of the defendant to perform the act  required.  It never  issues in doubtful cases.  While it may not be necessary that the duty be absolutely express, it is necessary that it should be clear.  The writ will not issue to compel an official to do anything which it is not his  duty to  do or which it is his duty not to do, or to give to the applicant anything to which he is not entitled by law.  The writ neither confers powers nor imposes duties. It is simply a command to exercise a power already possessed  and to perform a duty already imposed.

For these reasons we are of the opinion that the complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action and that, therefore, the demurrer thereto must be sustained.

It is therefore adjudge that The demurrer be and the same is hereby sustained and the complaint is dismissed upon the merits, unless within ten days from the entry of this judgment the plaintiff amends the complaint to cure the defects herein specified.  So ordered.

Torres, Mapa, Johnson, and Carson, JJ., concur.