CITY OF DAVAO, REPRESENTED BY HON. ZAFIRO L. RESPICIO, OFFICER-IN-CHARGE, OFFICE OF THE CITY MAYOR, AND FRANCISCO TESORERO, PETITIONERS, VS. BOARD OF ENERGY AND DAVAO LIGHT AND …

The only issue proffered by the petition is whether or not the
Board of Energy^[1]
(BOE) committed grave abuse of
discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in denying petitioners’
request for transfer of venue from Manila to Davao
City.

The provision of law pertinent to this petition is Section 10 of the Public Service Act
(C.A. No. 146), to wit:

“The Commission (now BOE) shall have its office in the City of
Manila at such place as may be designated, and may hold hearings on any proceedings at such times and places,
within the Philippines, as it may provide by order in writing x x x“

It appears that three applications were filed by respondent Davao Light and Power Co., Inc. (DALIGHT) before the
BOE.  There are:

“1.  Application for the
approval of the sound value appraisal of its properties and equipment as of
December 14, 1984, which was docketed
as BOE Case No. 85-103.

2.   Application for approval
of the Contract of Sale of two
(2) diesel generating sets together with all their standard accessories,
entered into with the National Power Corporation, which was docketed as BOE
Case No. 86-68;

3.   Application for
authority to increase its capital stocks from 80 Million Pesos to 110 Million
Pesos, which was docketed as BOE Case No. 80-159.”

(pp. 1-2, Comment; pp. 48-49, Rollo)

On November 22, 25 and 26, 1985, BOE received various telegrams
from Antonio Diaz, petitioner Francisco Tesorero, Davao City Vice Mayor Cornelio Maskarino
and Rey Teves of Konsumo Davao which among others,
requested that the hearing be held in Davao City
since the applicant and the oppositors come from Davao City.

In an order dated November 28, 1985, BOE denied oppositors request for transfer of venue citing as reason the previous similar actions it had taken
on cases involving other electric utilities where oppositors
therein had also made similar requests for change of venue.

A motion dated November 29, 1985 was likewise filed with BOE by Edmundo Madrazo, Jesus Dureza, Ely Bretana, Francisco Tesorero, Antonio Diaz and Rey Teves praying for the postponement of the hearing because
of the difficulty to obtain plane bookings and requesting reconsideration of
the order denying their request for transfer of venue.

On December 27, 1985, BOE received from the Davao
City Legal Officer a “Motion To Transfer Venue of Hearing” dated
December 11, 1985.

At the hearing of January
9, 1986, BOE received two (2) separate telegrams from herein
petitioners requesting postponement of the hearing as Vice Mayor Maskarino had made a personal
appeal to the President for the transfer of venue to Davao City.

On February 13, 1986, BOE issued an Order denying again oppositors‘ request for transfer of venue.

On June 10, 1986, BOE received from petitioner Davao City, through its OIC, Zafiro
Respicio, a telegram requesting transfer of venue of
hearings for the reason that all oppositors are Davao City residents. 
The same was denied by BOE
in a reply telegram of June 13, 1986.

On June 23, 1986, respondent BOE issued the Order, now in question,
which merely reiterated its previous denials of oppositors’
requests for change of venue.

On July 28, 1986, petitioners filed the instant petition for certiorari
and mandamus.

Petitioner contends that the BOE acted with grave abuse of
discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction in denying the said request for a transfer of venue, without even
giving any cogent reason why it has to prefer Metro Manila as the venue of the said cases considering that, Davao City is the place where the applicant Davao Light and Power Company and the
petitioners have their respective place of business or office, and, therefore,
physical and monetary
inconvenience can be tremendously avoided by the transfer of said venue, while
on the other hand, respondent BOE has all the facilities to move to Davao City for hearing considering that it is a
governmental agency with all the facilities it can avail which the petitioners can ill-afford, hence,
the necessity of a transfer of
venue becomes practical, convenient, economical and reasonable under the
prevailing circumstances.

The petition is
unmeritorious.

The BOE has not acted with grave abuse of discretion in holding
the hearings of the three DALIGHT cases in the confines of the BOE office in
Manila.  Such action by the board is well-within
the sphere of its discretion.  In
addition, in denying petitioners’ request for change of venue, respondent BOE
cited as reasons therefor the previous similar
actions it had taken in respect to cases which
involved other electric power
utilities where the oppositors
therein had likewise submitted similar requests for transfer of venue. 
The utilities aforementioned include Cagayan
Electric Light and Power Co., Inc. (CEPALCO), Visayan
Electric Company (VECO) and Panay Electric Company
(PECO), whose places of business are located in Cagayan
de Oro City, Cebu City and lloilo City, respectively.

Besides in a similar case filed in this Court, docketed as G.R.
No. 71322, entitled John H. Osmena vs. BOE, the petition therein was filed for the transfer of the venue by VECO from
the office of BOE in Pasig, Metro Manila to Cebu City.  In a
minute resolution dated December 16, 1985, this Court dismisssed
said petition for lack of merit.

Petitioners however are not left without any other recourse.  As what they have done in the past, they can
present evidence in support of their opposition in a less expensive and burdensome
way if they avail themselves of the provisions of Section 32 of the
Public Service Act or Rule 24 of the Rules of Court.  Under said rules, petitioners’ evidence may
be received in Davao City
itself, through depositions taken before the Clerk of Court of any Regional
Trial Court or Metropolitan Trial Court in Davao City.

PREMISES CONSIDERED, the instant petition is hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit.

SO ORDERED.

Melencio-Herrera, (Chairman),
Padilla, Sarmiento, and
Regalado, JJ.,
concur.

^[1]
The Board of Energy was created by
P.D. No. 1206, dated October 6, 1977.