Facts:
Lianga Bay Logging Co., Inc. petitioned the Court after the Court of First Instance of Agusan, Branch II, presided over by
Hon. Manuel Lopez Enage, entertained Civil Case No. 1253 filed on October 21, 1968 by
Ago Timber Corporation seeking a judicial determination of the correct boundary line of the licensed timber areas and damages, and after the trial court issued a temporary restraining order on October 28, 1968 and a writ of preliminary injunction on December 19, 1968 enjoining enforcement of an administrative decision of the
Office of the President; the parties were adjoining timber concessionaires, Lianga’s Timber License Agreement No. 49 covering approximately 110,406 hectares in Surigao provinces and Ago’s Ordinary Timber License No. 1323-60 [New] covering approximately 4,000 hectares in Agusan, both tracing a common boundary against the Agusan-Surigao provincial line. Because of reports of encroachment, the
Director of Forestry ordered a ground survey by Forester Cipriano Melchor who fixed the common boundary and the Director issued a decision dated March 20, 1961 adopting the red-penciled boundary;
Ago Timber Corporation protested and on appeal the then Acting
Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Jose Y. Feliciano, issued a decision dated August 9, 1965 setting the green line as common boundary; the matter was elevated to the
Office of the President where Assistant Executive Secretary Jose J. Leido, Jr. first affirmed the Secretary’s ruling in a decision dated June 16, 1966, a subsequent decision dated August 9, 1968 signed by Assistant Executive Secretary Gilberto Duavit reversed those earlier rulings and reinstated the Director’s decision, and Ago’s motion for reconsideration was denied in an order dated October 2, 1968; when Ago then filed the case below, Lianga moved to dismiss for lack of cause of action and lack of jurisdiction which motion was denied and the preliminary injunction was granted, prompting Lianga to seek certiorari and prohibition in this Court to annul the lower court’s restraining order and preliminary injunction and to compel dismissal of Civil Case No. 1253.
Issues:
Did the Court of First Instance have jurisdiction to entertain Civil Case No. 1253 and to reexamine and determine anew the common boundary line already fixed by the
Director of Forestry, reviewed by the
Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and by the
Office of the President? Did the respondent judge act with grave abuse of discretion or in excess of jurisdiction in issuing the temporary restraining order and the writ of preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of the Office of the President’s decisions? Was the writ of preliminary injunction void because it sought to restrain acts and include areas outside the license actually held by
Ago Timber Corporation and thus beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance?
Ruling:
Ratio:
Doctrine: