May a department secretary who is an alter ego of the President invoke the President’s immunity from suit?

■Even if the DECS Secretary is an alter ego of the President, he cannot invoke the President’s immunity from suit in a case filed against him because the questioned acts are not the acts of the President but merely those of a department Secretary. 

■ Petitioners theorize that the present petition for prohibition is improper because the same attacks an act of the President, in violation of the doctrine of presidential immunity from suit.

Petitioners contention is untenable for the simple reason that the petition is directed against petitioners and not against the President. The questioned acts are those of petitioners and not of the President. Furthermore, presidential decisions may be questioned before the courts where there is grave abuse of discretion or that the President acted without or in excess of jurisdiction. [Gloria v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 119903, August 15, 2000].