MANUEL R. SOLIVIO, PETITIONER VS. HON. FRANCISCO ARELLANO, JUDGE OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, AND THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF CADIZ, NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, RESP…

The events which gave rise
to this petition were as follows: In G. R. No. L-10535 this Court
reversed, on appeal, a decision of the Court of First Instance of
Negros Occidental in Civil Case No. 3132 and ordered the reinstatement
of herein petitioner, Manuel R. Solivio, to the position of Chief of
Police of Cadiz, from which he had been removed on 30 May 1955. In G.
R. No. L-9124, on a petition for certiorari and mandamus, we set aside
the order of execution of its judgment issued by the trial court
pending appeal. In compliance with our decisions the court below,
through Honorable Francisco Arellano, Judge, issued an order dated 6
July 1957, the dispositive part of which reads:

“Wherefore, the Court, finding the explanations oral
and written, given by Mayor Heraeleo Villacin not satisfactory, hereby
orders the said Mayor to reinstate petitioner Manuel R. Solivio as
chief of police of Cadiz, Negros Occidental, within twenty-four (24)
hours from receipt hereof, with payment of his back salaries, otherwise
the arrest of the said mayor will be ordered.

Pursuant to the foregoing order respondent Heracleo
Villacin, Municipal Mayor of Cadiz, reinstated petitioner on 9 July
1957. He assumed the duties of his office on that day, but the very
next day, 10 July, Mayor Villacin filed administrative charges against
him under Republic Act No. 557 and forthwith suspended him from his
position. Solivio then went to court and moved that his suspension be
lifted. On 20 July, 1957 Judge Arellano issued the following order:

“Premises Considered, the Court grants the motion of
petitioner Manuel R. Solivio, and orders the respondent Mayor, Heracleo
Villacin of Cadiz, Negros Occidental, to reinstate once more the
petitioner to the position of chief police of the said municipality,
within twenty-four (24) hours, without prejudice to the continuation of
the administrative charges against the said petitioner. Failure the
respondent Villacin to comply with this order within the time granted
herein, will constrain the Court to order for his immediate arrest.”

Mayor Villacin came to this Court with a petition for certiorari and
prohibition to seek a review of the order just quoted, with a prayer
for preliminary injunction. The petition was docketed here as case G.
R. No. L-12590. We granted the injunction and restrained respondent
Judge Arellano from enforcing his order of reinstatement. Consequently
Solivio remained under suspension pending the outcome of the
administrative investigation.

On 7 December 1957 the municipal council of Cadiz, which conducted said
investigation in accordance wiih republic Act No. 557, found him guilty
of the charges and ordered his dismissal from the service for cause.
Solivio appealed the council’s decision to the Commissioner of Civil
Service. On 13 February 1959 that official affirmed the order of
dismissal as follows:

“Premises considered, respondent-appellant is found
guilty of counts 2 (dishonesty), 3 (prohibited interest in property)
and 4 (insubordination). Wherefore, the decision of the Municipal
Council of Cadiz, Negros Occidental, dismissing respondent-appellant
Manuel R. Solivio from the service is hereby affirmed, his dismissal to
take effect on his last day of service with pay.”

Meanwhile, on 30 January 1959, two weeks before the Commissioner of
Civil Service decided the administrative case, we denied the petition
for certiorari and prohibition filed by Mayor Villacin (G. R. No.
L-12590), in effect. upholding the lower court’s order of 20 July 1957
for the reinstatement of Solivio Without prejudice to the continuation
of the administrative charges against him.

After receipt
of our decision in G. R. No. L-12590 Solivio filed in respondent court,
on 30 March 1959, an “ex-parte motion to issue writ of execution. What
could properly be executed in the ordinary course
was the order of 20 July 1957, since that was the order which had been
reviewed and upheld by us. However, the motion for execution did not
refer to it, but rather, to the previous order of reinstatement dated 6
July 1957, which had been complied with and implemented on 9 July 1957,
when Solivio was actually reinstated as Chief, of Police by Mayor
Villacin. The fact of such reinstatement has not been denied by herein
petitioner and indeed is one of the findings in our decision in G. R.
No. L-12590, as follows:

“Villacin filed a motion for reconsideration (Annex
“G”, petition) but the same was denied and Judge Francisco Arellano, by
order of July 6, 1957 (Annex H), directed Villacin to restore Solivio
to the post of Chief of Police of Cadiz within twenty-four hours under
pain of arrest. Villacin complied with said order and reinstated
Solivio on July 9, 1957 (Annex I, Petition), and Solivio acknowledged
his reinstatement (Annex J).”

Anyway the motion for execution was submitted and Honorable Jose R.
Querubin, then vacation Judge of the court below, granted the same and
issued the writ on 3 April 1959, ordering compliance with order of 6
July 1957. Under date of 21 April 1959 the Provincial Fiscal of Negros
Occidental, for and in behalf of the Mayor and the municipality of
Cadiz, moved to quash the writ of execution on the ground that if it
referred-as it did on its face-to the order of 6 July the same had been
complied with; and that if it referred-as it should have-to the order
of 20 July, the said order could no longer be carried out in view of
the fact that Solivio had been found guilty and dismissed in the
administrative case and therefore the question of his reinstatement, or
more accurately the lifting of his suspension pending investigation of
that case, had become purely academic.

Solivio filed an opposition to the Fiscal’s motion to quash; and after
hearing, respondent Judge Francisco Arellano, who had returned from
vacation in the meantime, granted the motion and dissolved the writ of
execution in an order dated 3 June 1959. Solivio moved for
reconsideration, and after the motion was denied instituted the instant
petition for “certiorari, mandamus and prohibition, with preliminary
mandatory injunction. The main prayer is that the foregoing orders of
respondent Judge be set aside; that he be commanded to issue a writ of
execution reinstating petitioner as Chief of Police of Cadiz; that the
other respondents be prohibited from enforcing the order of the
municipal council dated 7 December 1957, removing petitioner from
office; and that in the meantime a writ of preliminary mandatory
injunction issue for petitioner’s immediate reinstatement. The
mandatory injunction, however, has not been granted.

Upon the foregoing facts it is clear that the instant petition has no
merit. Petitioner’s right to be reinstated, as it formerly existed, was
based upon our decisions in cases G. R. Nos. L-9124 and L-10535,
pursuant to which the order of execution dated 6 July 1957 was issued.
That order became functus oficio
when it was implemented and petitioner assumed office as Chief of
Police on 9 July 1957. His suspension the next day, 10 July, was based
on an entirely new situation, namely, the filing of administrative
charges against him under Republic Act 557. True, the suspension was
ordered lifted by respondent Judge Arellano on 20 July 1957 and in the
ensuing certiorari-prohibition proceeding brought before us by
respondent Heracleo Villacin (G. R. No. L-12590) the said order was
upheld. But since it was expressly issued without prejudice to the
continuation of the administrative charges, and since such charges were
thereafter duly investigated and petitioner herein was found guilty
thereof, both by the municipal council of Cadiz and, on appeal, by the
Commissioner of Civil Service, the order lifting the suspension has
become purely academic. It should, be noted that the validity of the
administrative investigation was not an issue before us. It was
conducted by the agencies specified by law for that purpose. The appeal
to the Commissioner of Civil Service was taken by Solivio himself. To
order petitioner’s reinstatement now would be in effect to override and
annul the decision of that official, rendered in the exercise of his
jurisdiction—a result beyond the purview of the order of respondent
judge of 20 July 1957 and of our decision in case G. R. No. L-12590.

It would seem that the outcome of said case has turned out to be a
pyrrhic victory for petitioner. But it is not as if his long odyssey in
the several litigations he has undergone is for naught: his right to
the office and to the emolument pertaining thereto has been upheld up
to 9 July 1957, and the Provincial Fiscal of Negros Occidental, as
counsel for respondents, has manifested in his answer to the petition
that the municipality of Cadiz is now ready and willing to pay Solivio
roughly P3,800.00 for his unpaid back salaries up to his last day of
service with pay, which covers the period from May 30, 1955 to July 9,
1957.”

In view of the foregoing considerations, the writ prayed for is denied, without pronouncement as to costs.

Bengzon, C. J., Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Paredes, and Regala, JJ., concur.

Barrera, J.; reserves his vote.