Case Digest (G.R. No. 210487)
Facts:
Melysinda D. Reyes v. Maria Salome R. Elquiero, G.R. No. 210487, September 02, 2020, Supreme Court Third Division, Gaerlan, J., writing for the Court.Petitioner Melysinda D. Reyes is the biological aunt and long-time actual custodian of the minor Irish Elquiero; respondent Maria Salome R. Elquiero is the adoptive grandmother (mother of the deceased adoptive father, Rex Elquiero). After Rex died in February 2009, both Melysinda and Salome asserted claims to Irish’s custody.
On March 26, 2010 Salome filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus before the Court of Appeals (docketed CA‑G.R. SP No. 113286), alleging that Irish was being unlawfully withheld by Melysinda; the CA granted the petition in a March 31, 2010 resolution and ordered a writ returnable to the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 30, San Pablo City. The RTC conducted hearings, accepted the parties’ agreement to vest temporary custody with Melysinda, and later issued orders setting preparatory steps (compromise or pre‑trial briefs) on April 16, 2010 and denying reconsideration on July 9, 2010.
Salome challenged the RTC’s April 16 and July 9 orders before the CA in CA‑G.R. SP No. 115366; while that petition was pending, she filed a separate custody petition in RTC‑Muntinlupa (Sp. Case No. 10‑027, initiated June 15, 2010) and earlier had a guardianship petition in RTC‑San Pablo (Sp. Proc. Case No. SP‑1768(09)). The Muntinlupa RTC granted Melysinda’s motion to dismiss the custody petition on January 11, 2011 (denying reconsideration April 12, 2011); the CA 16th Division affirmed on September 25, 2012 (CA‑G.R. CV No. 97013) and found Salome guilty of multiple acts of forum shopping.
Conversely, the CA 9th Division in CA‑G.R. SP No. 115366 treated the habeas corpus petition as a Rule 102 proceeding (a summary habeas corpus petition), reversed the RTC’s orders requiring pre‑trial briefs, and held that Salome was not gui...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Whether the habeas corpus proceeding filed by Salome should be treated as a general habeas corpus petition under Rule 102 or as a custody‑related habeas corpus proceeding governed by the Rule on Custody of Minors and Writ of Habeas Corpus in Relation to Custody of Minors (A.M. No. 03‑04‑04‑SC).
- Whether Salome committed forum shopping by filing multiple proceedings in different courts seeking custody of Irish.
- Whether Salome has a valid legal right to seek custody of Irish given the adoption relationship and the Family Co...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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