CA upholds TRO vs. DepEd
BAYAMBANG SCHOOL TRANSFER
BAYAMBANG–The Court of Appeals’ Seventh Division sustained the writ of preliminary mandatory injunction issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of San Carlos City ordering the Department of Education through then Pangasinan I Division Superintendent Alma Torio to desist from defying the executive order issued by the town mayor directing the transfer of some 2,000 pupils and students of the Bayambang Central Elementary School to a relocation site.
In a decision signed by Associate Justice Stephen C. Cruz and concurred by Associate Justice Fernanda Lampas Peralta, the Appellate Court denied for lack of merit a Petition for Certiorari filed by DepEd through the Office of the Solicitor General seeking a review of the order of RTC Judge Hermogenes Fernandez on October 30, 2013 in a civil case filed by the municipality of Bayambang against Torio and Danilo Lopez, principal of the Bayambang Central Elementary School.
The decision of the Court of Appeals effectively directs that the more than 2,000 pupils and their teachers to remain in the new school site where they were transferred two years ago.
The petitioners said the lower court’s order has already become moot and academic when the year 2013 ended; and that both the Sangguniang Bayan’s Resolution No. 46 and the Mayor’s Executive Order No. 25 have become invalid since they did not specify the period which the transfer was to be implemented.
The CA disagreed and maintained that a case “becomes moot and academic only when its purpose has become stale.” It ruled that despite the end of 2013, the resolution “has not become futile and impractical.”
The Court also found the purpose of the executive order is the promotion of the well being of the students and the school personnel of Bayambang 1 Central School.
Evidently, the Court said, this purpose is not limited to the year 2013 since the conditions for which such order was issued continued to exist, citing the dilapidated state of the classrooms, the risk of acquiring diseases and the danger of incessant flooding when rain pours.
The Court also ruled that respondent judge (Fernandez) did not act “with grave abuse of discretion” simply because the order did not implead the DepEd Secretary being an indispensable party. ”
The Court concluded that petitioners’ contention that the DepEd Secretary is an indispensable party in the instant case “lacks factual and legal basis, for how can he be an indispensable party if the trial court can not acquire jurisdiction over his person”.
At the same time, the Court found the contention that the LGU of Bayambang did not have the authority to transfer the students and school personnel of the elementary school to the relocation site without merit.
It maintained that LGUs may prescribe regulations to protect the lives, health and property of their constituents and maintain peace and order within their respective jurisdictions.
“In the instant case, we find and so rule that the issuance and implementation of Resolution No, 40 and Executive Order No. 25 are valid exercise of the police power vis-a-vis the General Welfare Clause. (Leonardo Micua)
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