FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 214355. January 26, 2015.]
NATIONAL TRANSMISSION CORPORATION, petitioner, vs. SPOUSES DAVID JOHN RAE AND ANANITA FALLER RAE AND SPOUSES WINSTON DEL MAR LIM AND FILIPINAS A. DEL MAR LIM, respondents.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution dated January 26, 2015 which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 214355 (National Transmission Corporation v. Spouses David John Rae and Ananita Faller Rae and Spouses Winston Del Mar Lim and Filipinas A. Del Mar Lim). — The petitioner's motion for an extension of thirty (30) days within which to file a petition for review on certiorari is GRANTED, counted from the expiration of the reglementary period.
After a judicious review of the records, the Court resolves to DENY the instant petition and AFFIRM the September 21, 2012 1 and August 28, 2014 2 Resolutions of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CV No. 03411 for failure of petitioner National Transmission Corporation (TRANSCO) to show that the CA committed any reversible error in dismissing its appeal before it for failure to file its Appellant's Brief.
As correctly ruled by the CA, TRANSCO's failure to file its Appellant's Brief within the extended period it prayed for is a sufficient ground for the dismissal of its appeal. While it is settled that the CA's authority to dismiss an appeal for failure to file the Appellant's Brief is a matter of judicial discretion, and thus, a dismissal based on this ground is neither mandatory nor ministerial, the circumstances of the instant case show that TRANSCO's excuse for its failure to file its brief was flimsy and discreditable, and thus, the propriety of the dismissal of their appeal. 3 "It bears emphasizing that procedural rules should not be belittled or dismissed simply because their non-observance may have resulted in prejudice to a party's substantial rights. Like all rules, they are required to be followed except only for the most persuasive of reasons," 4 which is clearly absent in this case. HDIaST
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) EDGAR O. ARICHETADivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. Rollo, pp. 40-41. Penned by Associate Justice Zenaida T. Galapate-Laguilles with Associate Justices Edgardo L. Delos Santos and Pamela Ann Abella Maxino, concurring.
2. Id. at 44-48. Penned by Associate Justice Pamela Ann Abella Maxino with Associate Justices Edgardo L. Delos Santos and Gabriel T. Ingles, concurring.
3. See Bergonia v. CA, G.R. No. 189151, January 25, 2012, 664 SCRA 322, 329; citation omitted.
4. Barangay Dasmariñas v. Creative Play Corner School, G.R. No. 169942, January 24, 2011, 640 SCRA 294, 306; citation omitted.