January 2012 - Philippine Supreme Court Resolutions
Philippine Supreme Court Resolutions
[G.R. No. 177111 : January 30, 2012]
MA. CRISTINA F. ASIS v. 680 HOME APPLIANCES
G.R. No. 177111 (Ma. Cristina F. Asis v. 680 Home Appliances). - For resolution by this Court is the petition of Ma. Cristina Asis (petitioner) assailing the Court of Appeal's (CA) decision dated 23 October 2006 in CA-G.R. SP No. 93801,[1] denying her petition to dismiss the case for indirect contempt which respondent 680 Home Appliances (respondent) filed against her.
During the effectivity of the Stay Order issued in favor of respondent in view of its petition for corporate rehabilitation then pending before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Quezon City, Branch 90, respondent's creditor - the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), where petitioner is an officer - moved for execution of a compromise judgment against respondent.
Alleging that BPI's motion for execution defied the Stay Order, respondent filed a petition with the RTC of Quezon City to cite for indirect contempt the petitioner for her role in the preparation of the said motion. Petitioner moved for the dismissal of the charge for respondent's lack of cause of action.
The RTC, however, in its Omnibus Order dated 18 January 2006, denied petitioner's motion to dismiss and her motion for reconsideration.
Via petition for Certiorari, the petitioner assailed the RTC order before the CA, which, however, dismissed the same.
Hence, this petition for review, on the following grounds:
First, respondent has no cause of action against petitioner for BPI only exercised its legal right as creditor in accordance with law. In filing the motion for execution, BPI only sought the enforcement of a compromise agreement which has already become final and executory even before respondent filed its petition for rehabilitation.[2]
Second, the RTC's subsequent denial of the respondent's petition for rehabilitation, effectively lifting the Stay Order, rendered the contempt charge against the petitioner moot and academic.
Meanwhile, when this case was pending before this Court, the RTC of Quezon City, Branch 90, rendered a decision, dated 24 November 2009, dismissing the petition for indirect contempt against the petitioner, viz.:
IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, judgment is rendered DISMISSING the petition and/or ACQUITTING the respondent [Ma. Cristina Asis] of the charge of Indirect Contempt of Court in this case. All other claims including counterclaim/s are dismissed for lack of legal and/or factual basis.[3]
Our Ruling
As a matter of law, this petition was mooted by the RTC decision exculpating the petitioner from the charge of indirect contempt. The petitioner herself by way of Manifestation dated 08 May 2007,[4] prayed for just, and equitable relief in view of her acquittal from the charge.
In the recent ruling in Suplico v. NEDA,[5] we held:
Judicial power presupposes actual controversies, the very antithesis of mootness. In the absence of actual justiciable controversies or disputes, the Court generally opts to refrain from deciding moot issues. Where there is no more live subject of controversy, the Court ceases to have a reason to render any ruling or make any pronouncement. (Emphasis supplied)[6]
In Gancho-on v. Secretary of Labor,[7] we also ruled:
It is a rule of universal application, almost, that courts of justice constituted to pass upon substantial rights will not consider questions in which, no actual interests are involved; they decline jurisdiction of moot cases. And where the issue has become moot and academic, there is no justiciable controversy, so that a declaration thereon would be of no practical use or value. There is no actual substantial relief to which petitioners would be entitled and which would be negated by the dismissal of the petition. (Emphasis supplied)[8]cralaw cralaw
WHEREFORE, we DENY the petition for review for being MOOT AND ACADEMIC. Brion, J., on official leave; Perlas-Bernabe, J.; designated additional member per S. O. No. 1174 dated 9 January 2012.
SO ORDERED.
Very truly yours,
(Sgd.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZON
Deputy Division Clerk of Court
Endnotes:
[1] Penned by Associate Justice Bienvenido L. Reyes (now a member of this Court) with Associate Justices Fernanda Lampas Peralta and Myrna Dimaranan Vidal, concurring. Rollo, pp. 23-32.[2] Petition, id. at 16.
[3] Id. at 229.
[4] Rollo, pp. 208-209.
[5] G.R. No. 178830, 14 July 2008, 558 SCRA 329.
[6] Id. at 354.
[7] 337 Phil. 654(1997).
[8] Id. at 658.
[9] Associate Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro designated additional member in lieu of Associate Justice Bienvenido L. Reyes per raffle dated 25 January 2012.