CESAR TUMULAK, DEMETRIO TEVES, FAUSTINO JOVILLE, AND VICTORIANO BENLOT, PETITIONERS, VS. HON. AMADOR E. GOMEZ, ETC., ET AL., RESPONDENTS.

Petition for mandamus to compel the Court of First Instance
of Cebu to give due course to petitioners’ appeal in Election Case No.
R-6398 and to issue a mandatory injunction ordering respondents to
vacate the positions of Vice-Mayor and Municipal Councilors of Samboan,
Cebu and restore petitioners to the positions respectively held by them
following their proclamation by the municipal board of canvassers.

In the general elections of November 10, 1959, petitioners
Cesar Tumulak, Demetrio Teves, Faustino Jovilie and Victoriano Benlot,
official candidates of the Nacionalista Party, were proclaimed by the
municipal board of canvassers of Samboan, Cebu as the duly elected
vice-mayor and municipal councilors of said municipality, together with
two other councilors who are not parties to this case. In due time,
respondents Crispin Chan, Ignacio Singco, Sofronio Ferolino, and Cosme
Catipay, opposition candidates, contested their election (Election Case
No. R-6398 of the Court of First Instance of Cebu).

On
February 16, 1962, the respondent Court rendered judgment annulling
1,820 contested ballots of the protestees, on the ground that they were
marked, and declared the protestants, herein respondents, elected.

On
February 22, 1962, petitioners moved for the reconsideration of said
decision on the ground of insufficiency of evidence, but the same was
denied.

On March 20, 1962 the petitioners filed a notice of appeal, which reads:

“Protestees
(excluding Vicente Cal), thru their undersigned coun»el», hereby give
notice that, In accordance with cases promulgated by the Supreme Court,
they hereby appeal the decision of this Honorable Court, dated February
16, 1962, to the Honorable Court of Appeals.

“Protestees appealing are ready, upon notice, to file the necessary appeal bond which this Honorable Court will fix.

“Cebu City, March 20, 1962.”

Later
on the foregoing notice was amended so as to take the appeal to this
court, the questions involved being merely of law. After hearing both
parties on the question of whether due course should be given to the
appeal, the trial court refused to do so on the ground that its
decision was not appealable.

The sole issue to be resolved in
the instant petition is whether or not the decision rendered by the
respondent Court in Election Case No. 6398, involving offices of
vice-mayor and municipal councilors, is appealable to Us. It appears,
however, that the term of the office of vice-mayor and municipal
councilor in dispute already expired on December 30, 1963, this
circumstance rendering this case as well as the protest itself moot and
academic.

WHEREFORE, the present action for mandamus is dismissed, without costs.

Concepcion, Reyes, Barrera, Regala, Makalintal, Bengzon, Zaldivar and Sanchez, JJ., concur.