EN BANC
[G.R. No. 193542. April 22, 2014.]
NATIONAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION, represented by EDITA S. ABUENO, petitioner, vs. JUDGE FELIMON B. MONTENEGRO, RTC Branch 26, NAGA CITY, ADAN MARCELO B. BOTOR and DANILO GONZALES, respondents.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court en banc issued a Resolution dated APRIL 22, 2014, which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 193542 — NATIONAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION, represented by EDITA S. ABUENO, Petitioner, v. JUDGE FELIMON B. MONTENEGRO, RTC Branch 26, NAGA CITY, ADAN MARCELO B. BOTOR and DANILO GONZALES, Respondents.
By petition for certiorari, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) hereby assails the order issued on April 19, 2010 by respondent Judge Filemon B. Montenegro of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 26, in Naga City, 1 declaring NEA Memorandum No. 2009-027 as unconstitutional, and the order issued on June 13, 2010 by respondent Judge Montenegro, 2 denying NEA's motion for reconsideration and supplemental motion for reconsideration.
On November 16, 2009, the NEA issued Memorandum No. 2009-027 to provide for the automatic resignation effective January 10, 2010 of electric cooperative officials filing their certificates of candidacy (CoCs) for the 2010 National and Local Elections, the effectivity date being the start of the campaign period for the elections. 3
Feeling aggrieved by Memorandum No. 2009-027, respondents Adan Marcelo B. Botor and Danilo Gonzales filed a petition in the RTC to declare the unconstitutionality of NEA Memorandum No. 2009-027. It appears that Botor and Gonzales, then incumbent members of the Board of Directors of the Camarines Sur II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CASURECO II), had filed their CoCs for local elective posts to be contested in the 2010 synchronized elections. 4 On April 19, 2010, Judge Montenegro rendered the first assailed order declaring Memorandum Circular No. 2009-027 unconstitutional. NEA's motion for reconsideration and supplemental motion for reconsideration were subsequently denied. ETIDaH
Hence, the NEA filed its petition for certiorari, praying that: (a) the assailed orders dated April 19, 2010 and July 13, 2010 be annulled and set aside; (b) NEA Memorandum No. 2009-027 be declared constitutional; and (c) Botor and Gonzales be ordered to vacate their seats in the Board of Directors of CASURECO II.
The Court dismisses the petition for certiorari for being meanwhile rendered moot by the following intervening circumstances.
First of all, Memorandum No. 2009-027 was time-bound, being precisely intended to affect only the members of the Boards of Directors of electric cooperatives filing their CoCs for the 2010 National and Local Elections. 5 Such elections were already held as scheduled, and the terms of the local offices contested therein had even expired at noontime of June 30, 2013. Resolving the issue of the constitutionality or validity of Memorandum No. 2009-027 would serve no useful or practical purpose.
Secondly, the assailed orders of respondent RTC Judge were directed only at Memorandum No. 2009-027, particularly Section 2 thereof. However, on July 6, 2012, the NEA issued Memorandum No. 2012-016 entitled Guidelines in the Candidacy of EC Officials and Employees in the 2013 National and Local Elections, which was substantially similar to Memorandum No. 2009-027, particularly in providing for the automatic resignation of electric cooperative officials upon the filing of their CoCs for the 2013 National and Local Elections. Memorandum No. 2009-027 thereby ceased to be in force and effect. As such, any adjudication by the Court on the constitutionality or validity of Memorandum No. 2009-027 would have no further practical value. We observe that Memorandum No. 2012-016 was not the subject of the present case. SEHACI
And, thirdly, as Botor represented in his Memorandum, 6 which Gonzales adopted, 7 Botor's term as director of CASURECO II expired in October of 2012, 8 while Gonzales's term ended on October 20, 2010, with the latter opting not to run as a candidate for director in the August 2010 district elections. Hence, for the Court to still order that Botor and Gonzales should vacate their seats as directors of CASURECO II would be futile and useless. In addition, any bids on the part of Botor and Gonzales for directorships in CASURECO II subsequent to the 2010 National and Local Elections would be outside the issues properly submitted in this case.
A case becomes moot when it "ceases to present a justiciable controversy by virtue of supervening events, so that a declaration thereon would be of no practical value." 9 Nor is there any value for the Court to express its opinion here if no practical relief may be granted because of the supervening events. 10 It is our opinion, then, that granting or denying the reliefs the NEA sought through its petition for certiorari would serve no more practical purpose whatsoever.
WHEREFORE, the Court DISMISSES this case on the ground that the petition for certiorari is already moot; and MAKES no pronouncement on costs of suit." (46)
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) ENRIQUETA E. VIDALClerk of Court
Footnotes
1. Rollo, pp. 23-26.
2. Id. at 27-30.
3. Id. at 5-6.
4. Id. at 6.
5. Id. at 46.
6. Id. at 206-244.
7. Id. at 248-249.
8. Id. at 214.
9. Gunsi, Sr. v. Commissioners, The Commission on Elections, G.R. No. 168792, February 23, 2009, 580 SCRA 70, 76.
10. Royal Cargo Corporation v. Civil Aeronautics Board, G.R. Nos. 103055-56, January 26, 2004, 421 SCRA 21, 26.