Case Digest (G.R. No. 214073)
Facts:
Bicol Medical Center, represented by Dr. Efren SJ. Nerva, and the Department of Health, petitioner(s), v. Noe B. Botor, Celjun F. Yap, Ismael A. Albao, Augusto S. Quilon, Edgar F. Esplana II, and Josefina F. Esplana, respondents, G.R. No. 214073, October 04, 2017, the Supreme Court Third Division, Leonen, J., writing for the Court.The dispute concerns Road Lot No. 3, a service road leading to the former Camarines Sur Provincial Hospital (later Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, now Bicol Medical Center or BMC). The Province of Camarines Sur donated approximately five hectares to the Ministry of Health (now the Department of Health) in 1982; Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) No. 13693 covers the parcel and includes the Training and Teaching Hospital and Road Lot No. 3. In 1995 the Training and Teaching Hospital became BMC.
In 2009 BMC installed a steel gate along J. Miranda Avenue. On March 21, 2012, Dr. Nerva, BMC Chief I, issued Hospital Memorandum No. 0310 re-routing traffic inside the BMC compound and directing the closure/relocation of the gate effective April 1, 2012. The rerouting closed the steel gate on J. Miranda Avenue for vehicles and pedestrians and relocated the exit to the OPD gate for security and to facilitate planned development, including a proposed Cancer Center Building that would occupy most of Road Lot No. 3.
City officials and members of the public complained. The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Naga City adopted a resolution authorizing the mayor to dismantle the gate; instead, Mayor Bongat filed a verified petition for a writ of preliminary injunction against BMC (Civil Case No. 2012-0073, RTC Branch 24, Naga City). Several private individuals (the six respondents/intervenors) were allowed to intervene and later sought injunctive relief alleging Road Lot No. 3 is a public road used by the general public.
The Regional Trial Court denied the application for injunctive relief on December 21, 2012, and denied the intervenors’ motion for reconsideration on February 22, 2013. Only the intervenors appealed by filing a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals (docketed as CA-G.R. SP No. 129806). On February 28, 2014, the Court of Appeals granted the petition and directed the trial court to issue a writ of mandatory preliminary injunction; it found that the intervenors had made a prima facie showing that Road Lot No. 3 had the public character based on use and a 1970s Revised Assessor’s Tax Mapping Control Roll. The Court of Appeals denied motions for reconsideration on August 26, 2014, clarifying the injunction targeted the gate closure and rerouting, not construction of the Cancer Center Building.
On September 29, 2014, Bicol Medical Center and the Department of Health filed a Petition for Review on Certiorari before the Supreme Court contesting the Court of Appeals’ grant of injunctive relief. They argued Road Lot No. 3 is within TCT No. 13693 and that a certification from the Office of the City Engineer of Naga City stated that the road was not in the inventory of city roads. Petitioners also contended the injunction would halt a government infrastructure project (the Cancer Center Building), implicating Presidential Decree No. 1818 and related administrative circulars restricting injunctions against government projects. The Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on October 8, 2014 enjoining implementation of the Court of Appeals’ decision and required respondents to comment. Respondents filed comments (Jan. 13, 2015) maintaining the road’s public nature and denying that the injunction ...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the Court of Appeals err in directing the Regional Trial Court to issue a writ of preliminary injunction on the closure and gate relocation of Road Lot ...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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