VICENTE ONG CHIONGCHI, PETITIONER, VS. THE JUDGE OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF ORIENTAL NEGROS AND LEON PASTOR, RESPONDENTS.

Vicente Ong Chiongchi filed this petition for a writ of certiorari
against the judge of First Instance of the Province of Oriental Negros,
and Leon Pastor, praying that, after the proceeding prescribed by law,
the judgment rendered by the Honorable N. Capistrano, judge, on March
3, 1928, in civil case No. 321 of the said Court of First Instance,
after a new trial in the case, absolving the defendant Leon Pastor from
the complaint, and sentencing the plaintiff Vicente Ong Chiongchi to
costs, be declared null and void on the ground that said Judge N.
Capistrano lacked jurisdiction.

Inasmuch as the petition and the answer contain all the data
necessary to decide the question of law raised herein, we deem it
unnecessary to order the transmission to this court of the record of
civil case No. 321 of the Court of First Instance of Oriental Negros,
wherein the judgment in question was rendered.

In the petition filed by the petitioner Vicente Ong Chiongchi, the following facts appear:

On August 15, 1925, Vicente Ong Chiongchi filed a
complaint in the Court of First Instance of Oriental Negros against
Leon Pastor for breach of a contract of compromise, and for damages,
which was docketed under No. 321.

On November 28, 1925,
defendant Leon Pastor filed an answer denying each and every one of the
facts alleged in said complaint, and praying that he be absolved
therefrom with costs against the plaintiff.

On June 1.7, 1927, plaintiff Vicente Ong Chiongchi filed a supplementary complaint for damages.

On June 22, 1927, defendant Leon Pastor filed an argumentative pleading.

After the hearing, the Honorable A. M. Recto, acting in the Court of
First Instance of Oriental Negros, rendered judgment on July 20, 1927,
for the plaintiff and against the defendant.

On July 21, 1927, Leon Pastor received a copy of said decision, and
on the 25th of the same month he filed a motion expressing his
dissatisfaction with the judgment and his intention to engage a lawyer
and appeal to the Supreme Court, with notice to the adverse party and a
date set for the hearing.

On October 20, 1927, the said defendant filed another motion through
his attorneys, praying that he be permitted to amend his previous
motion, and that a new trial be granted him in accordance with law,
giving notice of said motion to the adverse party, and setting a date
for the hearing.

On October 24, 1927, the plaintiff therein and petitioner herein,
Vicente Ong Chiongchi, entered an objection to said motions and prayed
for their denial.

On the same date, October 24, 1927, the Honorable Nicolas
Capistrano, judge, considering the motions of October 20, 1927, filed
by the defendant therein and respondent herein, Leon Pastor, and
mentioned above, revoked the judgment rendered by the Honorable A. M.
Recto, judge, and granted the new trial prayed for, ordering the
reopening of the case.

While Judge Capistrano was holding sessions in the municipality of
Dansalan, Lanao, on March 3, 1928, he rendered judgment in the new
trial ordered in his aforesaid decree of October 24, 1927, which
judgment was entered on March 28, 1928, and is the subject matter of
the instant petition.

Plaintiff Vicente Ong Chiongchi took exception to said order on
November 7, 1927, and on March 13, 1928, filed in this court a petition
for a writ of certiorari, which was docketed as G. R. No. 29358,
against the Honorable N. Capistrano, judge, and Leon Pastor, praying
for the reasons stated therein, that said order of October 24, 1927, be
declared null and void.

Upon due consideration of said petition, this court on August 24, 1928,^[1]
rendered judgment granting the remedy sought, and annulling the order
entered by the Honorable N. Capistrano, judge, on October 24, 1927, for
lack of jurisdiction, and confirming the preliminary injunction, with
costs against the respondent Leon Pastor.

This court having held in its decision handed down on August 24,
1928, in certiorari proceedings G. R. No. 29358, that the Honorable N.
Capistrano, judge, acted without jurisdiction in entering his order of
October 24, 1929, which granted the new trial and ordered the reopening
of civil case No. 321; it follows that the new trial held, and the
judgment rendered on March 3, 1928, in consequence of said order of
October 24, 1927, are null and void; for, as he lacked jurisdiction to
issue the said order of October 24, 1927, so he also lacked
jurisdiction to hold the new trial provided for in said order, and to
render judgment after said new trial.

Wherefore, we are of opinion and so hold, that the judgment rendered
by the Court of First Instance of Oriental Negros on March 3, 1928,
after the new trial in civil case No. 321, is null and void for lack of
jurisdiction, with costs against the respondent Leon Pastor. So ordered.

Avanceña, C. J., Johnson, Street, Villamor, Johns, and Romualdez, JJ., concur.

---

^[1] Not reported.