Case Digest (G.R. No. 160031)
Facts:
Social Justice Society (SJS) v. Hon. Jose D. Lina, G.R. No. 160031, December 18, 2008, the Supreme Court En Banc, Nachura, J., writing for the Court.Petitioner Social Justice Society (SJS), a registered political party, filed a petition for declaratory relief in the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Manila, Branch 14 (Civil Case No. 02-104585) on September 12, 2002 seeking a judicial construction of Section 90 of Republic Act No. 7160 (the Local Government Code). SJS alleged that paragraph (a) of Section 90 prohibits governors, city and municipal mayors from practicing their professions or engaging in any occupation other than the exercise of their functions as local chief executives, and thus actors who were elected to those offices cannot lawfully appear in films or television while in office.
Petitioner later amended the complaint to implead as additional respondents then Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos-Recto, then Pampanga Governor Lito Lapid, and then Paranaque City Mayor Joey Marquez. The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), moved to dismiss on grounds that included lack of legal standing, absence of real party in interest, lack of a justiciable controversy, and that declaratory relief was not the appropriate remedy.
The RTC, in a June 30, 2003 Order, sustained the DILG’s motion and dismissed the petition for declaratory relief; the RTC denied the petitioners’ motion for reconsideration in a September 12, 2003 Order. SJS petitioned the Supreme Court by a Rule 45 petition for review on certiorari, assailing the RTC’s dismissal on "technical grounds" and...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Does SJS have legal standing (locus standi) to seek declaratory relief to construe Section 90 of R.A. No. 7160?
- Is declaratory relief the proper remedy to enforce Section 90 and to prohibit incumbent governors and mayors from appearing in movies or...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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