SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 232635. April 11, 2018.]
SPS. ROXAS GOMER DE JESUS, petitioners,vs. ANDRES A. OBINA AND RAYMUND1C. INARDA, respondents.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated11 April 2018which reads as follows: HTcADC
"G.R. No. 232635 — Sps. Roxas Gomer De Jesus versus Andres A. Obina and Raymund C. Inarda
After reviewing the Petition and its annexes, including the Court of Appeals (CA) Resolution 2 dated January 18, 2017 in CA-G.R. SP No. 148550, the Court RESOLVES to DENY the instant Petition and AFFIRM the January 18, 2017 Resolution of the CA.
Petitioner failed to attach the certified true copies or clearly legible copies of the judgments or resolutions of the Metropolitan Trial Court and the Regional Trial Court in contravention of Section 4, Rule 45 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure (Rules). This violation can be a ground for the dismissal of the petition as provided in Section 5, Rule 45 of the Rules. Sections 4 and 5, Rule 45 of the Rules provide:
SEC. 4. Contents of petition. — The petition shall be filed in eighteen (18) copies, with the original copy intended for the court being indicated as such by the petitioner, and shall (a) state the full name of the appealing party as the petitioner and the adverse party as respondent, without impleading the lower courts or judges thereof either as petitioners or respondents; (b) indicate the material dates showing when notice of the judgment or final order or resolution subject thereof was received, when a motion for new trial or reconsideration, if any, was filed and when notice of the denial thereof was received; (c) set forth concisely a statement of the matters involved, and the reasons or arguments relied on for the allowance of the petition; (d) be accompanied by a clearly legible duplicate original, or a certified true copy of the judgment or final order or resolution certified by the clerk of court of the court a quo and the requisite number of plain copies thereof, and such material portions of the record as would support the petition; and (e) contain a sworn certification against forum shopping as provided in the last paragraph of Section 2, Rule 42. aScITE
SEC. 5. Dismissal or denial of petition. — The failure of the petitioner to comply with any of the foregoing requirements regarding the payment of the docket and other lawful fees, deposit for costs, proof of service of the petition, and the contents of and the documents which should accompany the petition shall be sufficient ground for the dismissal thereof.
The Supreme Court may on its own initiative deny the petition on the ground that the appeal is without merit, or is prosecuted manifestly for delay, or that the questions raised therein are too unsubstantial to require consideration. (Emphasis supplied)
It is well-settled that procedural rules are not to be belittled or dismissed simply because their non-observance may have resulted in prejudice to a party's substantive rights. 3 Like all rules, they are required to be followed except only for the most persuasive of reasons when they may be relaxed to relieve a litigant of an injustice not commensurate with the degree of his thoughtlessness in not complying with the procedure prescribed. 4
Based on the foregoing, the CA did not commit any reversible error in denying the petition for review filed by petitioner for being filed out of time.
SO ORDERED. REYES, JR., J., on wellness leave."
Very truly yours,
MA. LOURDES C. PERFECTODivision Clerk of CourtBy:
(SGD.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. Also referred to as Raymundo in the CA Resolution dated January 18, 2017; rollo, p. 10.
2.Rollo, pp. 10-12. Penned by Associate Justice Ricardo R. Rosario, with Associate Justices Edwin D. Sorongon and Marie Christine Azcarraga-Jacob concurring.
3.Heirs of Gerarda R. Abella v. Fernandez-Espenilla, G.R. No. 228804, October 4, 2017 (Unsigned Resolution).
4.Sps. Bergonia v. Court of Appeals, 680 Phil. 334, 343 (2012), citing Lazaro v. Court of Appeals, 386 Phil. 412, 417 (2000).