Short answer. No. A person suspended from public office by sentence cannot hold another office with similar functions during the period of suspension. The suspension disqualifies the person from exercising the specific office or profession suspended, and the prohibition extends to functionally equivalent positions for the entire duration.
What the law says
The suspension from public office, profession or calling, and the exercise of the right of suffrage shall disqualify the offender from holding such office or exercising such profession or calling or right of suffrage during the term of the sentence. The person suspended from holding public office shall not hold another having similar functions during the period of his suspension.
Revised Penal Code, Article 33 — Effect Of Suspension Penalties. Read the full provision →
What the penalty of suspension covers
Article 33 of the Revised Penal Code governs the effects of the accessory penalty of suspension. When a person is convicted of an offense that carries suspension as a penalty — whether as a principal or accessory punishment — the immediate effect is disqualification from the specific office, profession, or calling identified in the sentence. This is not a removal from service in a permanent sense; it is a time-limited bar tied to the term of the sentence. Once the period expires, the person may ordinarily return to the position, subject to any other applicable rules.
The prohibition on functionally equivalent positions
The more critical rule in your question is the second sentence of Article 33: the suspended person cannot hold another office with similar functions during the suspension period. This closes what would otherwise be an obvious workaround. If a suspended mayor could immediately be appointed as officer-in-charge of another local government unit with identical powers, the suspension would be meaningless. The prohibition targets positions that exercise the same kind of authority as the suspended office, not merely positions with the same job title.
How to assess whether functions are similar
"Similar functions" is not limited to identical job descriptions. The analysis looks at what the suspended office actually does — the authority exercised, the decisions made, the public trust involved — and compares it to the new office being proposed. A suspended police officer cannot hold a position in a private security agency with law enforcement authority; a suspended fiscal cannot be appointed acting fiscal in a different district. The more the proposed position replicates the powers and responsibilities of the suspended one, the clearer the violation.
What this means if you or someone you know is suspended
If you are an official facing a suspension order or already under suspension, the practical rule is to avoid assuming any role — appointed or elected — that exercises similar governmental authority. Doing so is not just a civil service violation; it may compound the legal situation. For others in the government who are considering filling a vacancy caused by a suspension, appointing a suspended official to a functionally equivalent post creates risk for both the appointor and the appointee. The prohibition runs for the entire suspension period, and it is self-executing — there is no secondary order needed to enforce it.