GERVACIO VALENCIA, PETITIONER, VS. CARMEN P. CRISOLOGO, AS GOVERNOR OF ILOCOS SUR, GONZALO P. LAZO, AS VICE-MAYOR OF TAGUDIN, ILOCOS SUR AND THE PROVINCIAL BOARD OF ILOCOS SUR, …

Original petition for
prohibition with preliminary injunction.

Acting upon written
complaints, some of them under oath, of residents of Tagudin,
Ilocos Sur, charging
petitioner, Gervacio Valencia, as municipal mayor of Tagudin, with alleged abandonment of duties as such
officer, discrimination and grave abuse of discretion, and misconduct and
dishonesty, on January 31, 1966, the Provincial Governor of Ilocos
Sur, respondent Carmeling
P. Crisologo, suspended Valencia as such mayor,
“effective at the start of office hours, February 1, 1966.” Thereupon, Valencia commenced the present action of
prohibition, with preliminary injunction, against Governor Crisologo,
Gonzalo P. Lazo, as Vice-Mayor of Tagudin,
and the Provincial Board of Ilocos Sur:  (1) to nullify
said order of suspension; (2) to restrain Governor Crisologo from enforcing said order; (3) to restrain
Vice-Mayor Lazo from discharging the duties and
functions of mayor of Tagudin; and (4) to restrain
the provincial board from con­ducting an investigation of the administrative
charges contained in said complaints. 
Soon after the filing of the petition herein, petitioner reiterated the
prayer therein for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction, but the
same was denied.  This, notwithstanding,
the provincial board had voluntarily desisted from proceeding with the
investigation above referred to.

In due course, respondents filed their answer, admitting some
allegations of the petition, denying other allegations thereof and setting up
special defenses.  Respondents, likewise,
alleged, inter alia, that, soon after
Governor Crisologo had received the complaints
aforementioned, or on January 28, 1966, she preferred the corresponding charges
against the petitioner in an
administrative complaint filed by her with the provincial board, copy of which
administrative complaint was attached to said answer.

Petitioner maintains that
the order for his suspension is null and void, it having been issued by
respondent Governor on the basis of a letter complaint of Vice-Mayor Lazo, in violation of the provisions of section 2188 of the
Revised Administrative Code,
pursuant to which the Governor must submit written charges to the provincial
board before issuing said order of suspension, and, that, the provincial board
can not legally give due course to and investigate said complaint because it
would then be acting without jurisdiction and/or with grave abuse of
discretion.  The record shows, however,
that the charges contained in the complaint of Vice-Mayor Lazo
and those made in other complaints of residents of Tagudin
were incorporated into said administrative complaint filed by Governor Crisologo with the provincial board.

Petitioner further maintains that he had neither abandoned his
duties nor discriminated or committed a grave abuse of discretion; that the
charge for alleged misconduct and dishonesty is legally untenable, there being
no final judgment convicting him of the crime of embezzlement, on which the
charge is predicated; and that the charges against him do not affect his
official integrity.

It appears, however, that petitioner had held the office of mayor
of Tagudin in consequence of his election to said office on November 12, 1963; that his term of
office has expired on December 31, 1967; and that, at the general elections
held on November 14, 1967,
former Vice-Mayor Lazo was proclaimed elected mayor
of Tagudin, which office he now holds.

Inasmuch as the petition herein has for its purpose to prevent
petitioner’s suspension as mayor of the municipality
of Tagudin
and the investigation by the provincial board of the charges preferred against
him as such mayor, the issues raised in the present case have thus become moot.^[1]

WHEREFORE,
this case is hereby dismissed, without pronouncement as to costs.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Reyes, J.B.L., Dizon, Makalintal, Sanchez, Castro, Angeles, Fernando, and Capistrano, JJ., concur.

Zaldivar, J., did not take part.

^[1]
Sarandi v. Espino,
L-20822, Dec. 23, 1964; Grapilon v.
Municipal Council of Carigara, L-12347, May 30,
1961.