Case Digest (A.M. No. MTJ-01-1370)
Facts:
Chinese Flour Importers Association, Manila, Philippines v. Price Stabilization Board (PRISCO), G.R. No. L‑4465, July 12, 1951, the Supreme Court En Banc, Angelo, J., writing for the Court.The petitioner is the Chinese Flour Importers Association, an association of 59 licensed Chinese importers who had individually imported wheat flour in 1946–1948 and who claimed entitlement as "old importers" under Republic Act No. 426; the respondents are the Price Stabilization Corporation (PRISCO) (successor to PRATRA) and the Philippine Wheat Flour Board; intervenors included Manuel Rustia, Ernesto Y. Sibal and other members of the Philippine Flour Institute, Inc.
On September 5, 1950 the Association filed in the Court of First Instance of Manila a petition for mandamus and for a preliminary injunction compelling PRATRA (later substituted by PRISCO after Executive Order No. 350) and the Wheat Flour Board to issue wheat‑flour import quota allocations to the Association’s members in accordance with Sections 12 and 14 of Republic Act No. 426 (the Import Control Law), and to restrain allocations to new importers in excess of the statutory reservation. The trial court granted the writ and the preliminary injunction; the intervenors were allowed to join and opposed the petition. The parties agreed to submit on the pleadings and memoranda because the dispute raised only questions of law.
From the judgment of the Court of First Instance the respondents and intervenors appealed to the Supreme Court. While appeal was pending, petitioner obtained a writ of execution pending appeal; respondents were allowed to file a supersedeas bond to stay execution. The case presented primarily the legal question whether wheat flour was governed by RA 426 (notably Sections 14 and 15) or whether Executive Order No. 305 and its ...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Does Republic Act No. 426 (particularly Sections 14 and 15) govern the allocation of wheat‑flour import quotas, or is wheat flour excluded from the Act’s scheme and therefore subject only to Executive Order No. 305 and PRATRA/PRISCO discretion?
- Is mandamus a proper remedy to compel PRISCO to allocate wheat‑flour quotas to the Association’s members pursuant to RA 426, or is the allocation a discretionary act immune from mandamus?
- Is the Chinese Flour Importers Association a proper party (real party in interest) to mai...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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