G.R. No. L-17393. November 28, 1962
ERNESTO PALMA, PEDRO MALABAG, ALFREDO CUEVAS, TOMAS MATIBAG, HERMINIO CASTILLO, EMILIO CUEVAS, MAGDALENO JOPIA, EPIFANIO AGUILA AND CORNELIO MALIBITRAN, PETITIONERS AND APPELLAN…
REYES, J.B.L., J.:
Gabriel Jaen, Barrio Lieutenant of Labac, Cuenca, Batangas, presided over a
meeting of the Barrio Assembly of Barrio Labac during which it was resolved to
hold the election of the barrio officials of Labac on the next Sunday, January
17, from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Thereupon, a Board of Election Tellers was
elected, composed of four members: a public school teacher, one belonging to the
Nacionalista party, one from the Liberal Party, and a temporary secretary, who
is a Nacionalista. Among other things, it was also resolved during said meeting
that election should be by secret ballot; that the officers to be elected were
one Barrio Lieutenant, four Vice-Barrio Lieutenants, four members of the Barrio
Council, and one Barrio Treasurer; and the names of Leonardo Laroza, Marcelo
Aquino, and Jose Mandocdoc were submitted as nominees.
On or before 8:30 p.m. of January 13, I960, herein plaintiffs and defendants
(now appellants and appellees), including one Leonardo Laroza who is not a party
in this case, filed their respective certificates cf candidacy for the
aforementioned positions to be filled. Two were candidates for the position of
Barrio Lieutenant (one from each party—Nacionalista and Liberal), four
Nacionalistas and four Liberals for Barrio Lieutenants, and four Nacionalistas
and four Liberals for Council members, and Laroza for Barrio Treasurer.
On the following Sunday, January 17, the members of the Barrio Assembly
gathered at about 9:00 a.m. to cast their votes at the school premises of the
Labac Elementary of School; but because of an attempt of the Barrio Lieutenant
to postpone the elections upon sensing that the Liberals would get elected, the
elections were delayed up to 2:00 p.m. that afternoon. The Assembly, however,
decided in the presence of the Board of Election Tellers that since the
Resolution passed on January 10, 1960 could not be modified by only one person
(the Barrio Lieutenant) they proceed with the scheduled elections.
Voting actually started at about 3:00 p.m., and because of the comparatively
short time remaining, many of the members were unable to vote, some having
become impatient and left, so that only 114 of the 437 registered voters were
actually able to cast their votes. After canvassing the votes cast, the Board of
Election Tellers duly proclaimed herein plaintiffs elected, including Leonardo
Laroza as Barrio Treasurer. Immediately thereafter, Ernesto Palma, Barrio
Lieutenant-elect, sent a report of the results to the Provincial Governor of
Batahgas, the Municipal Mayor of Cuenca, Councilor Cayo Loria of Cuenca, and Mr.
Jose Magpantay, the Municipal Secretary of Cuenca.
On January 21, 1960, after three vain attempts to contact Judge Pasia of the
Justice of the Peace Court of Cuenca in his office at the municipal building,
the newly elected members of the Barrio Council of Labac had themselves sworn in
to office by Judge Godofredo Briones, Justice of the Peace of Padre Garcia,
Batangas, who is residing at Cuenca, Batangas.
In the afternoon of the same day, at about 4:00 p.m., Mr. Jaen, the former
Barrio Lieutenant, called a meeting of the Barrio Assembly of Labac, during
which meeting another set of election tellers, all Nacionalistas, were formed,
and another election was held, from 8 o’clock in the evening up to 10 o’clock
the following morning, followed immediately thereafter by canvassing up to 1:00
p.m. of January 22, 1960. Herein defendants were elected, to wit: Jose
Mandocdoc, as Barrio Lieutenant; Matias Jaen, Feliciano Marasigan, Vicente
Malibiran, and Delfin Pasig-pasigan, as Vice-Barrio Lieutenants; and Leoncio
Malabag, Raymundo Austria, Pacifico Loria, and Sergio Pantas, as members of the
Barrio Council.
On April 11, 1960, plaintiffs-appellants Palma, et. al., filed a complaint
for quo warranto in the Court of First Instance of Batangas, praying that they
be adjudged as duly elected and qualified members of the Barrio Council of
Labac, Cuenca, Batangas, and that defendants-appellees be duly ousted and
excluded therefrom; that defendants-appellees be ordered to pay them damages of
P750.00, plus costs of the suit, and for other relief, legal, just, or
equitable, in the premises. To this complaint, defendants Mandocdoc, et al.,
filed a motion to dismiss questioning the action for quo warranto, on the
ground that the jurisdiction lay not in the Court of First Instance, Branch I,
of Batangas, but in the Justice of the Peace Court of Cuenca, Batangas, citing
in support thereof Section 7 of the Barrio Autonomy Act (R.A. No. 2370), to
wit:
“All disputes over barrio elections shall be brought before the justice of
the peace court of the municipality concerned; in the determination and decision
thereof, the court shall follow as closely as possible the procedure prescribed
for inferior courts in Rule 4, Rules of Court. The decision of the justice of
the peace court shall be appealable pursuant to the Rules of Court to the court
of first instance whose decision shall be final on questions of fact.’
“
Plaintiffs filed their opposition, questioning, among others, the special
jurisdiction conferred upon the justice of the peace courts under R.A. 2370.
The Court of First Instance of Batangas, presided by Judge Manuel P.
Barcelona, after hearing both parties dismissed the complaint in an order dated
July 28, 1962, ruling that the words “All disputes” are clear and unambiguous,
categorically expressed in unmistakable terms, and includes all controversies
without exception; that disputes over the validity or invalidity of a barrio
election is intrinsically a dispute over a barrio election; that the current
policy of the Government is to ease the clogged dockets of the Courts of First
Instance as may be inferred from the passage of R.A. 2613 increasing the
jurisdiction of the justice of the peace courts in criminal and civil cases,
taking into account that there are thousands of barrios which -may have cases
like the present one, and that the decision of the justice of the peace courts
are after all appealable to the courts of first instance; and concluding,
therefore, that the jurisdiction of the Justice of the Peace Court of Cuenca in
the case at bar becomes incontestable.
Thereafter, plaintiffs perfected an appeal to us; and having been exempted
from printing their Record on Appeal, the original records of the court of first
instance, in Civil Case No. 774 were elevated here.
In their appeal, appellants question the lower court’s finding that it had no
jurisdiction to try this case, and pray that the trial court’s order dismissing
the case be reversed and the case be remanded to the Court of First Instance of
Batangas, Branch I, for trial on the merits.
We find the appeal untenable. The very amplitude and imperativeness of the
terms employed in paragraph 6 of Section 7 of the Barrio Autonomy Act (R.A. No.
2370)—”all disputes over barrio elections”—rebuts the argument that the
jurisdiction therein conferred upon justice of the peace courts should be
limited to disputes arising from ejections the validity of Which is not
contested. The statute is too absolute to admit distinctions, and evidences
legislative intent to confer extraordinary jurisdiction upon justice of the
peace courts for the sake of prompt and inexpensive solutions to the
controversies arising from barrio elections. Even conceding appellants’ claim
that the original wording of the section meant to confer to the justice of the
peace courts Jurisdiction only over election contests—and disregarding the
significance of the disappearance of such limitative expressions in the final
text-still, irregularities in the conduct of elections such as were alleged in
the petition are proper grounds of protest under the election laws and not of
quo warranto, the latter being limited to cases of disloyalty or
ineligibility of the proclaimed candidates (cf. secs. 172, 173, 174, Election
Code). The lower court was, therefore, correct in holding that the action
interposed by appellants was, in substance, an election contest, and a quo
warranto in form alone; hence, it is properly cognizable by the justice of
the peace court, and by the court of first instance only upon appeal.
Wherefore, the order of dismissal complained of is affirmed. Appellants shall
pay the costs.
Padilla, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Barrera, Paredes, Dizon,
Regala, and Makalintal, JJ., concur.