Case Digest (G.R. No. L-16190)
Facts:
Lucio L. Mayor, et al. v. The Hon. Raymundo Villacete, et al., G.R. Nos. L-16190 and L-16369, May 31, 1961, the Supreme Court En Banc, Bautista Angelo, J., writing for the Court.Petitioners were registered voters in several precincts of San Agustin, Romblon, and had voted there since 1934 through the 1957 elections. Pablo Burguete filed petitions for exclusion before the Justice of the Peace (J.P.) of San Agustin seeking to remove petitioners from the permanent voters' list on the ground they were not Filipino citizens.
The J.P. elevated the cases to the Court of First Instance (trial court). The trial court set the cases for hearing on November 4, 1959. Petitioners moved to dismiss in the trial court, arguing lack of jurisdiction because the petitions attacked their citizenship, which they contended could not be inquired into in an exclusion case and did not fall within Sections 121 and 123 of the Revised Election Code; the motion was denied. Petitioners sought to postpone the trial court hearing while they prepared a special civil action for prohibition with preliminary injunction in the Supreme Court; the trial court refused. Because he was a candidate, Lucio L. Mayor filed a petition for prohibition in this Court on November 6, 1959 (G.R. No. L-16190), which was given due course on November 9, 1959.
Despite the pendency of Mayor’s petition, the trial court proceeded on November 7, 1959, to hear the exclusion cases and rendered a decision declaring petitioners not Filipino citizens and disqualifying them from voting. Elections were held on November 10, 1959. On December 11, 1959, petitioners filed the present petition for certiorari (G.R. No. L-163...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Is the petition for certiorari challenging the trial court’s jurisdiction in the exclusion proceedings moot after the November 10, 1959 elections?
- Does a decision in an exclusion case by a court of first instance, though final and unappealable, operate as res judicata to bar future actions to asser...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)