Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila
EN BANC
G.R. No. L-16953 August 31, 1962
PABLO SARNILLO, CALIXTO CONCHA, BALDOMERO DIEZ, MAXIMO SABAR, ET AL., petitioners,
vs.
THE HON. MONTANO A. ORTIZ, as Judge of the Court of First Instance of Agusan and MARIANO C. ATEGA, respondent.
Juvenal D. Osorio for petitioners.
Apolonio D. Curato and Simon F. Curato for respondents.
BENGZON, C.J.:
The above petitioners pray for a writ of mandamus directing the respondent judge to allow them to intervene as parties defendant in Special Civil Case No. 34 of his court.
It appears that way back in 1947 respondent Atega secured the approval of his Sales Application No. 14768 of the Bureau of Lands covering a parcel of public land of about 129 hectares in Agusan. His application had been opposed by Pablo Sarnillo and the other petitioners, who claimed to be in possession of the lot, which opposition was, after investigation, overruled by the Director of Lands and by the Department of Agriculture in December, 1949. On appeal, the President upheld the sales award by the Department Head (October 1951).
However, on August 14, 1952, above petitioners, renewed their opposition by filing with the said bureau, a petition for the cancellation of the sale in favor of respondent Atega. The said motion was denied; but on appeal, the Undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, on May 31, 1956, on the premise of an overlooked material circumstance, rendered a decision cancelling the sales application and ordering the Director of Lands to subdivide the land and sell it to qualified bona fide occupants.
Wherefore, in the Court of First Instance of Agusan, above respondent Atega, in July, 1956, filed against the Undersecretary of the Agriculture Department and the Director of Lands, a petition for certiorari (Special Civil Case No. 34) to avoid the latest order of said Department, asserting lack of jurisdiction and/or abuse of discretion.
In October, 1956, above petitioners moved for leave to intervene in such certiorari proceedings, explaining that they were actual occupants of the land and were the same persons who had secured the cancellation of Atega's sales award, and that they had legal interest, actual and immediate, to sustain the position of the said Department.1äwphï1.ñët
The motion to intervene was denied on the ground that above petitioners were not necessary and indispensable parties, their interest being not actual and direct, but simply contingent and expectant.
Whereupon this petition for mandamus was here promptly instituted.
In his answer, Atega defended the resolution of the respondent judge, and denied the right of the herein petitioners to take part in the litigation between him and the lands officials. He alleged, furthermore, that at any rate these would-be intervenors have no leg to stand on, and nothing to support their claim, because on July 31, 1958, the President of the Philippines reversed and revoked the order of the Department of Agriculture dated May 31, 1956. The petitioners do not deny the issuance of such President's order of July 31, 1958. Evidently, in addition to his court action to annul the Department's order, Atega appealed to Malacañan and there he won his case.1 Consequently, the certiorari proceeding has become moot, because the Department's order of May 31, 1956, which it sought to annul was reversed by the Chief Executive in the exercise of his legal powers. So it becomes unnecessary to pass on petitioner's right, if any, to intervene. And, this petition should be, as it is hereby dismissed. No costs.
Padilla, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Reyes, J.B.L., Barrera, Paredes, Dizon, Regala and Makalintal, JJ., concur.
Footnotes
1 The President of the Philippines, through the Executive Secretary, on July 31, 1958, issued an order revoking the decision of the said Undersecretary and declaring Atega's sales application reinstated to its previous status.
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