THE LIGA NG MGA BARANGAY NATIONAL,
petitioner, vs. THE CITY MAYOR OF MANILA, HON. JOSE ATIENZA, JR., and THE CITY
COUNCIL OF MANILA, respondents. G.R. No. 154599, January 21, 2004.
“First, the respondents neither acted in any
judicial or quasi-judicial capacity nor arrogated unto themselves any judicial
or quasi-judicial prerogatives. A petition for certiorari under Rule 65 of the
1997 Rules of Civil Procedure is a special civil action that may be invoked
only against a tribunal, board, or officer exercising judicial or
quasi-judicial functions.
Section 1, Rule 65 of the 1997 Rules of Civil
Procedure provides:
SECTION 1. Petition for certiorari. — When
any tribunal, board or officer exercising judicial or quasi-judicial functions
has acted without or in excess of its or his jurisdiction, or with grave abuse
of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction, and there is no
appeal, or any plain, speedy, and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of
law, a person aggrieved thereby may file a verified petition in the proper
court, alleging the facts with certainty and praying that judgment be rendered
annulling or modifying the proceedings of such tribunal, board or officer, and
granting such incidental reliefs as law and justice may require.
Elsewise stated, for a writ of certiorari to
issue, the following requisites must concur: (1) it must be directed against a
tribunal, board, or officer exercising judicial or quasi-judicial functions;
(2) the tribunal, board, or officer must have acted without or in excess of
jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion amounting lack or excess of
jurisdiction; and (3) there is no appeal or any plain, speedy, and adequate
remedy in the ordinary course of law.
A respondent is said to be exercising
judicial function where he has the power to determine what the law is and what
the legal rights of the parties are, and then undertakes to determine these
questions and adjudicate upon the rights of the parties.11
Quasi-judicial function, on the other hand,
is "a term which applies to the actions, discretion, etc., of public
administrative officers or bodies … required to investigate facts or ascertain
the existence of facts, hold hearings, and draw conclusions from them as a
basis for their official action and to exercise discretion of a judicial
nature."12
Before a tribunal, board, or officer may
exercise judicial or quasi-judicial acts, it is necessary that there be a law
that gives rise to some specific rights of persons or property under which
adverse claims to such rights are made, and the controversy ensuing therefrom
is brought before a tribunal, board, or officer clothed with power and
authority to determine the law and adjudicate the respective rights of the
contending parties.13
The respondents do not fall within the ambit
of tribunal, board, or officer exercising judicial or quasi-judicial functions.
As correctly pointed out by the respondents, the enactment by the City Council
of Manila of the assailed ordinance and the issuance by respondent Mayor of the
questioned executive order were done in the exercise of legislative and
executive functions, respectively, and not of judicial or quasi-judicial
functions. On this score alone, certiorari will not lie.”
