GOTARDO FLORDELIS, PETITIONER, VS. BENJAMIN MARCIAL, ALBERTO CASTAÑEDA, ERNESTO ROLDAN, BARTOLOME CALVO, ADELAIDA PAYLADO, PORFERIO KEE, ALBERTO TABASERA, LIEUTENANT COLONEL PAT…

Gotardo Flordelis,
the administrator of the Bohol School of Arts and
Trades at Tagbilaran City, filed this special civil
action of prohibition to restrain the respondents (the city mayor, fiscal and
engineer of Tagbilaran City, an Assistant Minister
and certain officials of the Ministry of Public Works assigned in Central Visayas and the provincial commander of Bohol)
from closing the school and inspecting
the building of the said school for the alleged purpose of searching “for
incriminating evidence of violations” of law and harassing the petitioner.

City Fiscal Jovencio S. Orcullo (concurrently acting provincial fiscal), in his own
behalf and as counsel for the city mayor, the city engineer and the provincial
commander, explained in his comment on the petition why the petitioner was
charged in Criminal Case No. 2045 with having violated the National Building
Code, why an inspection team (composed of the respondent officials) was created
to investigate the structural stability of the school building and why stop­page
and closure orders were issued.

Regional Director Benjamin T. Marcial
of the Ministry of Public Works revealed in his comment the bases of his
impression that the said building might have structural defects and that the
addition of new floors might be unwarranted. 
He recounted how the investigating team was organized.  He showed the unreasonableness of Flordelis‘ refusal to allow the team to investigate the
construction of the building.

This case was heard on August
10, 1981.  At that hearing,
the petitioner agreed to allow the inspection of the building in the presence
of his representatives.  Some Members of
the Court counselled the petitioner to improve his
public relations with the respondents and not to treat his school as an enclave
of which he is the undisputed sovereign and which is off limits to the
respondents.

The Solicitor General, as counsel for respondent officials of the
Ministry of Public Works and the provincial commander alleged in his
manifestation of September 4, 1981 that a team of engineers from the Ministry of
Public Works and the city engineer’s office inspected the school building in
the presence of the petitioner’s representatives from the Ministry of Education
and Culture.

The Solicitor General observed that the petition had become moot
because its purpose was to restrain the inspection of the building by the
respondents and such inspection was carried out with petitioner’s consent on August 19, 1981.

WHEREFORE, this case is dismissed and considered
closed.  The temporary restraining order
is dissolved.  However, the respondents
are enjoined from carrying out, without petitioner’s consent, a “seismic
test” by ramming the building with a bulldozer, as alleged by petitioner’s
counsel in his manifestation of August
20, 1981.  No costs.

SO ORDERED.

Barredo, (Chairman), Concepcion, Jr., Abad Santos, and De Castro, JJ., concur.