Case Digest (G.R. No. L-60548)
Facts:
Philippine Global Communications, Inc. v. Hon. Benjamin Relova, G.R. No. 60548, November 10, 1986, the Supreme Court En Banc, Feria, J., writing for the Court. Petitioner is Philippine Global Communications, Inc.; respondents included Hon. Benjamin Relova, in his capacity as Presiding Judge, Court of First Instance of Manila, and private competitors Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Capitol Wireless, Inc., and Radio Communications of the Philippines, Inc.On May 10, 1976, petitioner applied to the Board of Communications (BOC, now the National Telecommunications Commission) for authority to establish a branch station in Cebu City to render international telecommunication services from Cebu to points outside the Philippines; private respondents opposed the application. While the application was pending, the BOC issued Memorandum Circular No. 77-13 on March 24, 1977, designating the Metropolitan Manila area as the sole "gateway" for communications and defining "domestic record operations."
On January 16, 1979, the BOC granted petitioner provisional authority to establish a Cebu City station, subject to conditions; on May 24, 1979 the BOC issued final authority permitting a branch/station in Cebu City and, subject to prior BOC approval, elsewhere in the Philippines. Respondents moved for reconsideration of that BOC decision. Pending that administrative resolution, private respondents filed a petition for declaratory judgment in the lower court on August 27, 1979 seeking construction of petitioner's franchise (R.A. No. 4617).
The trial court denied petitioner's motion to dismiss; this Court earlier sustained the lower court's jurisdiction to entertain the declaratory action under the concept of primary jurisdiction (see G.R. No. L-52819, Oct. 2, 1980). The parties agreed at pretrial to submit the case for decision on pleadings and memoranda because the issues were legal in nature. On April 27, 1982, Branch XI of the Court of First Instance of Manila (Judge Relova) rendered judgment declaring petitioner "without authority to establish, maintain and operate, apart from its single principal station in Makati, any other branch or station within the Philippines,&...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Whether the lower court erred in deciding the declaratory relief action on the parties' pleadings alone despite petitioner's belated claim that genuine issues of fact required trial.
- Whether petitioner is authorized under its legislative franchise, Republic Act No. 4617, to establish stations or substations in places outside Metropolitan Manila.
- Whether the establishment of such stations or substations constitutes "domestic service" wi...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)