Municipality of San Narciso, Quezon v Mendez

GR 103702, 6 December 1994

EMERGENCY RECIT: San Andres (SA) used to be a part of San Narciso. It was made a municipal
district under EO 353, and subsequently a fifth class municipality. 30 years from the time of its
creation, petitioners are now assailing the validity of EO 353. The court ruled that the quo
warranto proceeding was not timely raised, and even conceding EO 353s nullity, several
governmental acts point to the states recognition of the existence of the SA. Moreover, Sec 442
(d) of the LGC has cured whatever defects were present in its creation, further dispelling all
doubts on the de jure standing of SA.
FACTS:
Pres. Garcia issued EO 353, creating the municipal district of San Andres, Quezon (by segregating
barrios San Andres, Mangero, Alibijaban, Pansor, Camflora, and Tala from the municipality of San
Narciso), upon the request of the municipal council of San Narciso.
Pres. Macapagal issued EO 174, officially recognizing the municipal district of San Andres as a
fifth class municipality, the conversion proposed in HB 4864 having been approved by the House
of Respresentatives.
Municipality of San Narciso filed a quo warranto petition against the officials of the Municipality of
San Andres, wherein they sought to declare the nullity of EO 353 (for being a usurpation of
legislative powers, thus violating the principle of separation of powers) and to permanently
refrain the local officials of the latter from performing the duties and functions of their offices.
Respondents sought to dismiss the petition on the ground of estoppel (it was at the instance of
petitioner that the municipality of San Andres was given life), prescription (municipality of San
Andres had been in existence since 1959, thus corporate personality can no longer be assailed),
and that petitioner was not the proper party to bring the quo warranto proceeding (should have
been the state, through the solicitor general)
Respondent filed another motion to dismiss, considering the enactment of the Local Government
Code, providing that Municipalities existing as of the date of the effectivity of the Code shall
continue to exist and operate as such. Existing municipal districts organized pursuant to
presidential issuances or executive orders and which have their respective set of elective
municipal officials holding office at the time of the effectivity of this Code shall henceforth be
considered as regular municipalities. Petitioner opposed, contending that the provision applied
to legally existing municipalities, and not those void ab initio.
LC: dismissed for lack of cause of action (right to sue belonged to the state), and for being moot
and academic (RA 7160 cured whatever defects were present in its enactment)
While petitioners agree that the enactment of the LGC converted the municipality of San Andres
into a de facto municipality, they contend that since the petition for quo warrant was filed prior
the passage of the said law, petitioner had acquired a vested right to seek the nullification of EO
353.
ISSUE: WON the municipality of San Andres exists as a validly constituted municipal corporationYES
RULING:
Public interest demands with the greatest imperativeness that a quo warranto proceeding,
assailing the lawful authority of a political subdivision, be timely raised. In this case, it took
petitioners 30 years from the time the municipal district of San Andres was created to finally
challenge the legality of EO 353. Within those years, the municipal district, and subsequently,

municipality of San Andres continued to exercise the powers and authority of a duly created local
government unit.
Even considering that EO 353 was void for being a usurpation of the legislative power, the
peculiar circumstances present in this case all point to the states recognition of the continued
existence of the municipality of San Andres, with a status uniquely of its own closely
approximating, if not in fact attaining, that of a de facto municipal corporation. Thus, after more
than 5 years as a municipal district, Executive Order No. 174 classified the Municipality of San
Andres as a fifth class municipality after having surpassed the income requirement laid out in RA
1515. Sec. 31 of BP 129, constituted as municipal circuits certain municipalities that comprised
the municipal circuits organized under AO 33. Moreover, under the ordinance apportioning the
seats of the House of Representatives, appended to the 1987 Constitution, the Municipality of
San Andres has been considered to be one of the 12 municipalities composing the 3rd District of
the province of Quezon.
Equally significant is Section 442(d) of the LGC providing that municipal districts "organized
pursuant to presidential issuances or executive orders and which have their respective sets of
elective municipal officials holding office at the time of the effectivity of the Code shall
henceforth be considered as regular municipalities." The power to create political subdivisions is
a function of the legislature. Congress did just that when it has incorporated Section 442(d) in
the Code. Curative laws, which in essence are retrospective, and aimed at giving "validity to acts
done that would have been invalid under existing laws, as if existing laws have been complied
with," are validly accepted in this jurisdiction, subject to the usual qualification against
impairment of vested rights.
Considering the all of the above-stated, the de jure status of the Municipality of San Andres in the
province of Quezon must now be conceded.
NOTE:
Quo warranto is a prerogative writ by which the Government can call upon any person to show by what warrant he
holds a public office or exercises a public franchise. When the inquiry is focused on the legal existence of a body
politic, the action is reserved to the State in a proceeding for quo warranto or any other credit proceeding. It must be
brought in the name of the Republic of the Philippines and commenced by the Solicitor General or the fiscal when
directed by the President of the Philippines. Such officers may, under certain circumstances, bring such an action at
the request and upon the relation of another person with the permission of the court. The Rules of Court also allows an
individual to commence an action for quo warranto in his own name but this initiative can be done when he claims to
be entitled to a public office or position usurped or unlawfully held or exercised by another.