April 2016 - Philippine Supreme Court Decisions/Resolutions
Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence
G.R. No. 175736 & 175898, April 12, 2016 - JOSE RIZAL L. REMO, REYNALDO G. PANALIGAN, TITA L. MATULIN, ISAGANI CASALME, CIPRIANO P. ROXAS, CESARIO S. GUTIERREZ, CELSO A. LANDICHO, AND EDUARDO L. TAGLE, Petitioners, v. ADMINISTRATOR EDITA S. BUENO, NATIONAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION (NEA) BOARD OF ADMINISTRATORS AND MEMBER-CONSUMERS OF BATELEC II, Respondents.; G.R. NO. 175898 - JOSE RIZAL L. REMO, REYNALDO G. PANALIGAN, TITA L. MATULIN, ISAGANI CASALME, CIPRIANO P. ROXAS, CESARIO S. GUTIERREZ, CELSO A. LANDICHO, AND EDUARDO L. TAGLE, Petitioners, v. ADMINISTRATOR EDITA S. BUENO, SEC. RAPHAEL LOTILLA, WILFREDO BILLENA, JOSE VICTOR LOBRIGO, EVANGELITO ESTACA AND MARILYN CAGUIMBAL, Respondents.
EN BANC
G.R. No. 175736 & 175898, April 12, 2016
JOSE RIZAL L. REMO, REYNALDO G. PANALIGAN, TITA L. MATULIN, ISAGANI CASALME, CIPRIANO P. ROXAS, CESARIO S. GUTIERREZ, CELSO A. LANDICHO, AND EDUARDO L. TAGLE, Petitioners, v. ADMINISTRATOR EDITA S. BUENO, NATIONAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION (NEA) BOARD OF ADMINISTRATORS AND MEMBER-CONSUMERS OF BATELEC II, Respondents.
G.R. NO. 175898
JOSE RIZAL L. REMO, REYNALDO G. PANALIGAN, TITA L. MATULIN, ISAGANI CASALME, CIPRIANO P. ROXAS, CESARIO S. GUTIERREZ, CELSO A. LANDICHO, AND EDUARDO L. TAGLE, Petitioners, v. ADMINISTRATOR EDITA S. BUENO, SEC. RAPHAEL LOTILLA, WILFREDO BILLENA, JOSE VICTOR LOBRIGO, EVANGELITO ESTACA AND MARILYN CAGUIMBAL, Respondents.
D E C I S I O N
LEONARDO-DE CASTRO, J.:
Before the Court are the consolidated cases G.R. No. 175736 and G.R. No. 175898, filed by the same petitioners against slightly different sets of respondents.
G.R. No. 175736 is a petition for review on certiorari under Rule 45 with prayers for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (status quo ante) and/or preliminary mandatory injunction. Petitioners therein question the Decision1 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 96486 (the questioned Court of Appeals Decision).
G.R. No. 175898 is a petition for indirect contempt under Section 3(a), Rule 71 of the Rules of Court. '
Petitioners Jose Rizal L. Remo, Reynaldo G. Panaligan, Tita L. Matulin, Isagani Casalme, Cipriano P. Roxas, Cesario S. Gutierrez, Celso A. Landicho, and Eduardo L. Tagle (petitioners) are members of the Board of Directors of the Batangas II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BATELEC II).
Public respondent Edita S. Bueno is impleaded as the Administrator of the National Electrification Administration (NEA), an agency created under Presidential Decree No. 269, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 1645.
The members of the Board of Administrators of NEA, at the time of the filing of the petition, were Department of Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla as Chairman, and Wilfredo Billena, Jose Victor Lobrigo, and Edita Bueno.
The member-consumers of BATELEC II are the private respondents.
The Court of Appeals, in CA-G.R. SP No. 96486, summarized the facts in the following manner:
The antecedent facts show that on May 12, 2005, an administrative complaint for gross mismanagement and corruption was lodged before the Board of Administrators, National Electrification Administration] (NEA) by bonafide members of BATELEC II against petitioners and other members of the Board of Directors of the cooperative.
In a Manifestation and Motion dated April 12, 2006, respondents informed the Office of the Administrative Committee of NEA (Adcom) that they are adopting their Joint Answers filed in two other administrative cases as part of their arguments and evidence in this case. In their Joint Answers, respondents averred among others that the complaints were never subscribed and sworn to before an administering officer, non