Case Digest (G. R. No. L-23080)
Facts:
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company v. City of Davao and the Public Service Commission, G.R. No. L-23080, September 20, 1965, the Supreme Court En Banc, Bengzon, J., writing for the Court. Petitioner PLDT sought prohibition and mandamus to enjoin Davao City from carrying out a contract with ITT Philippines, Inc. for the installation of a city-wide telephone system and to compel the Public Service Commission (PSC) to require that Davao City secure a certificate of public convenience and necessity.PLDT filed the suit in 1964 (record states "filed on 23, 1964"). The PSC filed its answer July 15, 1964; Davao City answered August 11, 1964. ITT moved to intervene; the motion was granted and ITT filed its answer in intervention August 7, 1964; PLDT replied October 15, 1964. PLDT twice sought preliminary injunctions, both denied. The case advanced to decision in the Supreme Court after ordinary appellate/extraordinary remedies were invoked as a petition for relief (the record does not set out intermediate trial-court dispositions).
The factual background: Davao City Council passed Resolutions Nos. 664 (August 7, 1963) and 2015 (December 27, 1963) authorizing a city-owned telephone system. Pursuant to those resolutions, the City contracted with ITT on February 26, 1964, for P3,587,000; a down payment was made May 29, 1964, and ITT was given 18 months (until November 29, 1966) to deliver the system. Construction materials had largely arrived and work was well advanced when PLDT filed suit. PLDT had been the prior and local operator in Davao since 1931 but its existing system covered only the poblacion and, on the record, it had no immediate plan to serve the outlying districts or to meet the then-identified demand for some 3,000 immediate additional lines in Davao.
PLDT’s claims were twofold: (1) Davao City lacked power under its charter to establish and operate a telephone system; and (2) Davao City was required to secure from the PSC a certificate of public convenience and necessity before undertaking such operation. The City relied on Section 14(ee) of its Charter (Commonwealth Act No. 51) authorizing ordinances "for the … comfort, convenience and general welfare" of the city. After submission of the case, Congress enacted Republic Act No. 4354 (effective June 19, 1965), whose Section 16(aa-1) expressly empowered the Davao City council "to provide for the establishment and maintenance of a telephone system," and ITT moved to dismiss as moot; the Court declined to pass on the curative effect of the new statute.
The Public Service Act provisions at issue were quoted by the Court: Section 13...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the enactment of Republic Act No. 4354 after submission render the case moot so as to require dismissal?
- Did Davao City have the power under its charter (Section 14(ee)) to establish and operate a city-owned telephone system?
- Was Davao City required to secure a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Public Service Commission before establishi...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)