JOSE REYES, SOLEDAD REYES & CARMELITA REYES DE PASTOR, PETITIONERS, VS. HON. FRANCISCO ARCA, PRE­SIDING JUDGE, COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF MANILA, BRANCH I, AND EUSEBIO MILLAR, R…

This case was interposed by petitioners Reyes to seek a writ of
mandamus against respondents, to compel them to comply with the decision of
this Court promulgated on 29 November
1965, in Case G. R. No. L-21447,
having an identical title as the present one.

The spouses Feliciano and Pilar Basa had in 1943 leased certain premises in the City of Manila
to Eusebio Millar at a monthly rent of P320.00 a
month.  The lease contract contained a
stipulation granting the lessee option to buy the property if the lessors decided to sell the same, such stipulation to be
respected by a third party buyer.

In 1953 the lessors sold the property
to herein petitioners, who agreed to respect the lease of Eusebio
Millar.  In 1954 the lessee filed action
in the Court of First Instance presided by Judge Arca
to compel the petitioners to sell the property to him, conformably to he option
granted in the lease contract.  As the
new lessors resisted the action, claiming that the
option had been waived, they moved that, pending resolution of Millar’s action,
said lessee be required to deposit in court the rentals that had accumulated
during the pendency of the action.  The judge having denied their motion,
petitioners came to this Court in certiorari G. R. No. 21447).

On 29 November 1965,
We rendered judgment, the dispositive
part of which reads as follows:

“WHEREFORE, the petition for certiorari is granted, the orders
dated March 20 and April 6, 1963
are set aside, and respondent Eusebio Millar is
ordered to deposit with the trial court the sum of P16,640.00
for rentals from January 1959 to April 1963, and monthly rentals of P320.00 for
every month thereafter.  No costs.”

The aforesaid judgment having become final, and Millar failing to
make the deposit ordered, petitioners asked respondent Judge Arca to cite Millar for contempt.  The judge denied their motion.  Thereupon, petitioners asked that a writ of
execution be issued to enforce the final decision of the Supreme Court.  Again, Judge Arca
declined to do so, by order of 5
January 1967.  Wherefore, the
petitioners once more resorted to this Supreme Court for a writ a mandamus.

The contumacious conduct of Judge Francisco Arca,
in repeatedly refusing to enforce a final decision of this Court, is plain on
the record.

“. . . . . . . . . . . . .As already observed by this court in Shioji vs. Harvey ([1922],
43 Phil., 333, 337), and reiterated in subsequent cases, “if each and
every Court of First Instance could enjoy the privilege of overruling decisions
of the Supreme Court, there would be no end to litigation, and judicial chaos
would result.” A be­coming modesty of inferior courts demands on conscious
realization of the position that they occupy in the interrelation and operation
of the integrated judicial system of the nation.”

During the pendency of this appeal,
however, two developments occurred: Judge Arca
retired from the service and Judge Jose A. Bautista, to whom Millar’s case to
enforce his option had been referred, rendered a decision requiring the petitioners
herein to sell the property to the plaintiff, and his decision has become final
by failure to perfect an appeal.

Said decision of the Court of First Instance (in its Civil Case
No. 20396) also declared null and void the sale of the pro­perty by Pilar Basa in favor of Jose
Reyes, et al. (petitioners herein) and ordered the Register of Deeds to cancel
the Certificate of Title issued in their favor.

Under the circumstances, enforcement of our previous 1965
decision requiring respondent Millar to deposit the rentals of the pro­perty
during the pendency of the suit in the Court of First
Instance would now serve no useful purpose, the petitioners’ rights as vendees­-lessors having been already nullified.  (And the retirement of ex-judge Francisco Arca prevents his being called to account for his refusal
to enforce our decision.)

WHEREFORE, the above entitled case is hereby dismissed,
for having become moot and academic.  Without costs.

SO ORDERED.

Dizon, Makalintal,
Zaldivar, Ruiz Castro, Fernando, Teehankee, Barredo, and Makasiar, JJ., concur.

Concepcion and Villamor, JJ., on official leave.