VICENTE R. MARABABOL, PETITIONER, VS. THE HONORABLE MONTANO A. ORTIZ, JUDGE OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF AGUSAN AND JUAN CALO, RESPONDENTS.

This is a petition for certiorari to annul an order of the Court of
First Instance of Agusan, granting the preliminary injunction prayed
for by herein respondent Juan Calo in Civil Case No. 508, entitled
“Juan Calo, plaintiff, vs. Vicente Marababol and D. O. Plaza Enterprises, defendants.”

The record shows that on August 30, 1956, respondent Juan Calo,
plaintiff below, bought at Sabang Umayam, Loreto, province of Agusan,
448 logs equivalent to 450,000 board feet of timber, more or less, from
one Lorna R. Montilla at the rate of P36.00 per cubic meters. Following
the usual procedure practiced by the Bureau of Forestry, the said logs
were scaled by Forest Guard Iñigo M. Laspinas, acting-in-charge of the
Loreto Forest Station, after which the auxiliary invoices, transport
permits and release or clearance papers were issued to respondent Juan
Calo. Said respondent paid in advance the sum of P25,000.00 to Lorna R.
Montilla, who, by the way, was certified by Forest Guard Laspinas to be
the owner of the logs. After delivery of the logs to respondent Calo,
the latter was able to sell them to Jebenaur Company, Inc., which
advised him by telegram of the arrival of a boat at Butuan City to take
delivery of the logs.

While the logs were being towed by several launches to Butuan City,
D. O. Plaza Enterprises, one of the defendants in the proceedings
below, filed a protest with the District Forester of said city,
alleging that the logs bought by respondent Calo were taken from the
area subject of a dispute between it and Lorna R. Montilla. Acting upon
the protest, the District Forester, with the aid of Constabulary
soldiers, impounded the logs upon their arrival at Butuan City.

Contending that the District Forester arbitrarily ordered the
impounding of the logs, the same having been purchased by him in good
faith and for value, respondent Juan Calo filed a complaint for
injunction with damages in the court below, with prayer for the
issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction. After hearing the
evidence adduced by the parties on the preliminary injunction prayed
for, the respondent judge, finding that the impounding of the logs was
arbitrary and oppressive which will cause great and irreparable injury
to plaintiff, herein respondent Juan Calo, granted the same in an order
dated September 15, 1956. The dispositive part of the order complained
of reads:

“WHEREFORE, the Court resolves to grant the
preliminary injunction to prevent the impending irreparable injury to
the plaintiff. Let the preliminary injunction be issued restraining and
enjoining the defendants, their attorneys, agents, representatives,
deputies, guards, or any person or persons acting in their behalf from
interfering, molesting and preventing the plaintiff from the exercise
of his rights as owner and possessor of the 448 logs purchased by him
from Lorna R. Montilla and specifically listed in Annex ‘D’ of the
verified complaint, and ordering the release thereof to the plaintiff
after payment of the corresponding forest charges and other fees
charged by the government, upon the plaintiffs filing and approval of
the bond in the amount of P45,000.00 to answer for all damages which
defendants may sustain by reason thereof, if the court should decide
that plaintiff is not entitled thereto.”

Reconsideration of this order having been denied, the District
Forester filed the present petition for certiorari to annul the same
for having been issued with grave abuse of discretion. The petition was
given due course, but as no preliminary injunctive writ had been prayed
for, the Court merely required respondents to answer.

Answering the petition, said respondents, thru counsel, alleged that
it is within the power of the courts to correct the abuse of authority
committed by some officers of the executive department of the
Government. As special or affirmative defense, respondents also allege
that the petition states no cause of action; that petitioner has
another remedy in law, is not affected by the order, and consequently
has no interest in the present litigation; and that the logs in
question have already been delivered to respondent Juan Calo and
shipped to Japan.

Without need of going into all the questions raised by the parties,
this Court is of the opinion that the petition must be denied.

The petitioner District Forester of Butuan merely seeks the
annulment of the order issued by the court below granting the
preliminary mandatory injunction by virtue of which respondent Juan
Calo was able to obtain possession of the logs in question. Apparently,
petitioner would want to have the logs remain impounded pending the
result of his investigation of the claim filed with him by D. O. Plaza
Enterprises, which is the “standard operating procedure” of the Bureau
of Forestry. Petitioner believes, as stated in his motion for
reconsideration, that said logs “are the best evidence for determining
the ownership thereof, so that if the same will be disposed of by
plaintiff (respondent Juan Calo) by virtue of the writ of preliminary
injunction, there will be no more competent evidence to satisfactorily
show ownership thereof.” It appearing that the logs in question have
already been shipped to Japan, petitioner cannot now insist on having
them impounded for purposes of the investigation he is conducting. The
case made out by the present petition has, therefore, already become
moot.

Wherefore, the petition is denied, without costs.

Paras, C. J., Bengzon, Montemayor, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Reyes, J.B.L., and Barrera, JJ., concur.
Padilla, J., took no part.