ChanRobles Virtual law Library
SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST ➔ SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
THIRD DIVISION G.R. No. 162924 : February 4, 2010 MID-PASIG LAND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Petitioner, v. MARIO TABLANTE, doing business under the name and style ECRM ENTERPRISES; ROCKLAND CONSTRUCTION COMPANY; LAURIE LITAM; and MC HOME DEPOT, INC., Respondents. D E C I S I O N NACHURA, J.: Assailed in the instant petition are the two (2) Resolutions1cralaw of the Court of Appeals (CA) dated November 20, 2003 and March 22, 2004, dismissing the petition for certiorari before it on technical grounds and denying the motion for reconsideration thereof, respectively. The background facts are as follows: Petitioner is the registered owner of a piece of land situated in Pasig City, bounded by Meralco Avenue, Ortigas Avenue, Doña Julia Vargas Avenue, and Valle Verde Subdivision. On December 6, 1999, petitioner, represented by its Chairman and President, Ronaldo Salonga, and ECRM Enterprises, represented by its proprietor, Mario P. Tablante, executed an agreement whereby the former would lease to the latter an area, approximately one (1) hectare, of the aforesaid land, for a period of three (3) months, to be used as the staging area for the Home and Garden Exhibition Fair. On March 6, 2000, the date of the expiration of the Lease Agreement, Tablante assigned all his rights and interests under the said agreement to respondents Laurie M. Litam and/or Rockland Construction Company, Inc. (Rockland) under a Deed of Assignment of the same date. Petitioner eventually learned that respondent Tablante had executed a Contract of Lease with respondent MC Home Depot, Inc. on November 26, 1999 over the same parcel of land. Thereafter, respondent MC Home Depot, Inc. constructed improvements on the land and subdivided the area into fifty-nine (59) commercial stalls, which it leased to various entities. Upon the expiration of the lease on March 6, 2000, petitioner demanded that respondents vacate the land. A final demand was made in a letter dated December 20, 2000.2cralaw In order to forestall ejectment from the premises, respondent Rockland filed a case for Specific Performance with the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 266, Pasig City, on January 11, 2001, compelling petitioner to execute a new lease contract for another three (3) years, commencing in July 2000. This was docketed as Civil Case No. 68213. Petitioner moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that it was anticipatory in nature. Consequently, on August 22, 2001, petitioner filed Civil Case No. 8788 for unlawful detainer against herein respondents, raffled to the Municipal Trial Court (MTC), Pasig City, Branch 70. Simultaneously, petitioner filed a supplemental motion to dismiss Civil Case No. 68213, on the ground of litis pendentia. Petitioner's motion to dismiss was denied. The denial was questioned and eventually elevated to the Supreme Court.3cralaw Meantime, on April 29, 2002, the MTC rendered judgment in the unlawful detainer (ejectment) case. In the main, the trial court ruled that the issue did not involve material or physical possession, but rather, whether or not ECRM had the right to exercise an option to renew its lease contract. The MTC stated that, considering that this issue was incapable of pecuniary estimation, jurisdiction over the case was vested in the RTC. The trial court, therefore, disposed, as follows:
On appeal, the RTC, Pasig City, Branch 160, affirmed in toto. In its decision dated July 10, 2003, the RTC ruled that:
A petition for certiorari was consequently filed with the CA. In the assailed resolution dated November 20, 2003, the CA resolved to dismiss the petition on the following grounds:
The motion for reconsideration was denied;7cralaw hence, the instant petition assigning the following errors:
The petition is granted. In Cagayan Valley Drug Corporation v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue,9cralaw the Court had occasion to explain that:
In sum, we have held that the following officials or employees of the company can sign the verification and certification without need of a board resolution: (1) the Chairperson of the Board of Directors, (2) the President of a corporation, (3) the General Manager or Acting General Manager, (4) Personnel Officer, and (5) an Employment Specialist in a labor case. While the above cases do not provide a complete listing of authorized signatories to the verification and certification required by the rules, the determination of the sufficiency of the authority was done on a case to case basis. The rationale applied in the foregoing cases is to justify the authority of corporate officers or representatives of the corporation to sign the verification or certificate against forum shopping, being "in a position to verify the truthfulness and correctness of the allegations in the petition."10cralaw From the foregoing, it is thus clear that the failure to attach the Secretary's Certificate, attesting to General Manager Antonio Merelos's authority to sign the Verification and Certification of Non-Forum Shopping, should not be considered fatal to the filing of the petition. Nonetheless, the requisite board resolution was subsequently submitted to the CA, together with the pertinent documents.11cralaw Considering that petitioner substantially complied with the rules, the dismissal of the petition was, therefore, unwarranted. Time and again, we have emphasized that dismissal of an appeal on a purely technical ground is frowned upon especially if it will result in unfairness. The rules of procedure ought not to be applied in a very rigid, technical sense for they have been adopted to help secure, not override, substantial justice. For this reason, courts must proceed with caution so as not to deprive a party of statutory appeal; rather, they must ensure that all litigants are granted the amplest opportunity for the proper and just ventilation of their causes, free from the constraint of technicalities.12cralaw After a finding that the CA erred in dismissing the petition before it, a remand of the case is in order. However, a perusal of the records reveals that this is no longer necessary in light of relevant developments obtaining in the case at bar. Petitioner, in its Memorandum dated October 28, 2005, alleged that respondents possessory claims had lapsed and, therefore, had become moot and academic. Respondent Rockland prayed that a three-year lease period be granted to it in order that it would be able to plan its activities more efficiently. Since the claimed "lease contract" had already expired as of July or August 2003, there appears no reason why respondents should continue to have any claim to further possession of the property.13cralaw Respondent Rockland also stated in its Memorandum dated March 16, 2006 that it was no longer in possession of the subject property considering that:
WHEREFORE, the petition is GRANTED. The assailed Resolutions of the Court of Appeals are REVERSED and SET ASIDE. However, in view of the developments which have rendered the issue of the right of possession over the subject property moot and academic, the main case is hereby considered CLOSED AND TERMINATED. No pronouncement as to costs. SO ORDERED. ANTONIO EDUARDO B. NACHURA WE CONCUR: ANTONIO T. CARPIO*
DIOSDADO M. PERALTA A T T E S T A T I O N I attest that the conclusions in the above Decision had been reached in consultation before the case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Court's Division. RENATO C. CORONA C E R T I F I C A T I O N Pursuant to Section 13, Article VIII of the Constitution and the Division Chairperson's Attestation, I certify that the conclusions in the above Decision had been reached in consultation before the case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Court's Division. REYNATO S. PUNO Endnotes:
|
|