Case Digest (G.R. No. 93252)
Facts:
Rodolfo T. Ganzon filed consolidated petitions challenging several orders of preventive suspension issued by Luis T. Santos, Secretary of the Department of Local Government; this Court promulgated a main decision on 5 August 1991 affirming the suspensions and ordering consolidation of administrative cases. After issuance of the main decision, a fourth suspension (3 July 1991) was served, the Court of Appeals issued a TRO on 3 September 1991, this Court issued a TRO directed to the CA on 5 September 1991, and petitioner moved to dissolve that TRO and to be allowed to re-assume office.
Issues:
- When may Petitioner Ganzon re-assume his office as Mayor of Iloilo City?
- May overlapping preventive suspensions be served *simultaneously* so that overlapping days are credited to both suspensions?
- Are the petitions in the Court of Appeals and the Regional Trial Court moot and academic after the service computations and the main decision?
Ruling:
The urgent motion dated 7 September 1991 was granted and the temporary restraining order of 5 September 1991 was lifted; respondents were ordered to allow Petitioner Ganzon to re-assume his office effective immediately. The Court held that petitioner served the third suspension from 4 May 1990 to 18 May 1990 (fourteen days), credited the overlapping service of the third and fourth suspensions so that only seventeen days remained (served 3 September–20 September 1991), and treated the second suspension as served from 5 August 1991 to 4 October 1991; the Court of Appeals petition (CA-G.R. SP No. 25840) and the RTC Special Civil Action No. 18312 were dismissed as moot insofar as they sought relief now rendered.
Ratio:
The Court applied Article 13 of the Civil Code to compute suspension periods (exclude the first day, include the last) and held that the Court of Appeals TRO of 18 May 1990 interrupted petitioner’s service of the third suspension. In view of the Secretary’s piecemeal imposition of successive suspensions and the protective policy of the Local Government Code of 1991 (Sec. 63(b)) limiting preventive suspension, the Court allowed simultaneous crediting of overlapping suspension days to avoid multiplying the punitive effect and to favor the elective official, while upholding the Secretary’s authority and the main decision’s affirmation of the suspensions.
Doctrine:
- Article 13 of the Civil Code governs computation of suspension periods by excluding the first day and including the last.
- A Temporary Restraining Order interrupts the service of a preventive suspension for the period it is in force.
- Under Sec. 63(b), Local Government Code of 1991, preventive suspension of a local elective official is limited to sixty days per single suspension and not more than ninety days within a year for the same grounds.
- Overlapping preventive suspensions may be credited *simultaneously* in appropriate circumstances to avoid unjust multiplicity of suspension periods.
- A case becomes moot and academic when the relief sought has been rendered by subsequent authoritative action.