Case Digest (G.R. No. 198994)
Facts:
The case is titled Special Audit Team, Commission on Audit vs. Court of Appeals and Government Service Insurance System (G.R. No. 174788) and was decided by the Supreme Court En Banc on April 11, 2013. The petitioners, namely the Special Audit Team (SAT) of the Commission on Audit (COA), sought to challenge the decisions of the Court of Appeals (CA) regarding a petition for prohibition filed by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). The controversy began when the COA established the SAT through Legal and Adjudication Office (LAO) Order No. 2004-093, empowering the team to conduct a special audit on GSIS transactions for the years 2000 to 2004. Following initial cooperation from GSIS in providing audit documents, disagreements arose concerning the SAT's actions during an initial conference, leading to GSIS's refusal to comply with the auditor's requests and the issuance of a subpoena duces tecum by the SAT. GSIS's President criticized the SAT, alleging b
Case Digest (G.R. No. 198994)
Facts:
Background and Creation of the SAT: The Commission on Audit (COA) formed the Special Audit Team (SAT) through Legal and Adjudication Office (LAO) Order No. 2004-093, tasked with conducting a special audit of specific transactions of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) from 2000 to 2004. The SAT was created under COA Resolution 2002-005, which authorized internal restructuring.
GSIS’s Objection to the SAT: GSIS initially agreed to cooperate with the SAT but later objected, claiming the SAT was biased, partial, and hostile. GSIS argued that COA lacked the authority to reorganize itself and that the SAT’s creation was not supported by law. GSIS also contended that the subpoena duces tecum issued by the SAT was invalid because no case had been brought to COA for resolution.
SAT’s Alternative Audit Procedures: Due to GSIS’s refusal to cooperate, the SAT resorted to alternative audit methods, gathering documents from various sources. Some of the SAT’s findings were published in the Manila Times, leading GSIS to refuse attendance at the SAT’s exit conference.
Court Intervention: On 15 April 2005, GSIS filed a Petition with COA to nullify the SAT’s Special Audit Report. Later, on 18 July 2005, GSIS filed a Petition for Prohibition with the Court of Appeals (CA), seeking to stop the SAT’s actions and requesting a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a writ of preliminary injunction. The CA granted the TRO and later issued the writ of preliminary injunction.
Issues:
- Whether prohibition is the correct remedy for GSIS.
- Whether the writ of preliminary injunction was properly issued.
- Whether the SAT was validly constituted.
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)