REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

THIRD JUDICAL REGION
Malolos City, Bulacan
Branch

HON. HERMINIGILDO C. DUMALAO III

Executive Judge
Regional Trial Court
Malolos City, Bulacan,

BULAKAN HERALD NEWS

WEEKLY, LUZON INSIDER,
WEEKLY BLUE PRINT,
RONDA/BALITA and ABANTE
BULACAN TODAY NEWS
Petitioners,
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PETITION

COMES NOW, Petitioner, and unto this Honorable Court, most

respectfully alleges:

1. That Petitioners, namely, BULAKAN HERALD NEWS

WEEKLY, LUZON INSIDER, WEEKLY BLUE PRINT,
RONDA/BALITA and ABANTE BULACAN TODAY NEWS, all with
editorial and business addresses all in the province of Bulacan;

2. That the said local newspapers are all acrredited by the

Honorable Court to publish local and judicial notices such as Summons by
Publication, Sheriff’s Notice of Sale, Court Orders, Notice of Initial Hearing
raffled by the court for publication;

3. That petitioners were currently billing Pag-IBIG, National Home

Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) and Balikatan, with the current rate
of Five Thousand Pesos (Php5,000.00) per Notice of Sheriff’s Sale;

4. That due to the inflation and increasing demand of our

operational expenses, the current rate of Five Thousand Pesos (Php5,000.00)
per Notice of Sheriff’s Sale paid particularly by Pag-IBIG, National Home
Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) and Balikatan;

5. That during the meeting of the Publishers Association of Bulacan

which was held on June 1, 2023 at the Editorial Office of Bulakan Herald
News Weekly, Capitol Compound, Malolos City, Bulacan, the
abovementioned issue was discussed and it was unanimously resolved that the
publishers’s fee shall be increased from Five Thousand Pesos (Php5,000.00)
per Notice of Sheriff’s Sale to Fifteen Thousand Pesos (Php15,000.00) by
filing a verified petition before the Honorable Court;

6. That the law governing the regulation Publication of Judicial

Notices, Advertisements For Public Biddings, Notices of Auction Sales and
Other Similar Notices is embodied under Presidential Decree No 1079;

7. That on October 16, 2021 an En Banc Resolution was

promulagated by the Honorable Supreme Court under A.M. No. 01-1-07-SC.
- Re: Guidelines in the Accreditation of Newspapers and Periodicals and in
the Distribution of Legal Notices and Advertisements for Publication. Under
the said resolution the Honorable Supreme Court, All Executive Judges and
Clerk of Court were given power and discretion in the determination of rates
of publication charges in accordance with Ad, which hereunder reproduced to
wit:

“A.M. No. 01-1-07-SC.-Re: Guidelines in the Accreditation of

Newspapers and Periodicals and in the Distribution of Legal Notices
and Advertisements for Publication.

XXX

III. Rates of Publication

SEC. 13. Rates of publication charges. – Newspapers or periodicals

whose regular commercial rates are lower than ten (10) pesos per column
inch shall not charge below ten (10) pesos per column inch of the notices,
announcements and advertisements. In case of newspapers or periodicals
that do not carry commercial display advertising, the rate for the
publication of notices, announcements and advertisements shall be fixed at
ten (10) pesos per column inch. Newspapers or periodicals may only
charge more than ten (10) pesos up to eighty (80%) percent of their
regular commercial display advertising rates when there is proper and
adequate proof that the rate claimed is the regular commercial
advertising rate.

SEC. 14. Determination of rates of publication charges. – The executive

 Judge shall determine the allowable rates as mentioned in the preceding
Section, using as basis the contracts and proofs of payment submitted by
the publishers.” (Emphasis Supplied)

8. That having Accredited Publisher’s of Malolos Regional Trial

Court we wish to inform the Honorable Court that the prevailing commercial
rate is Two Hundred Pesos (Php200.00) per column centimeters, with these,
we propose that abovementioned rate per column centimeter be adopted and
shall now become the standard rate for publication fee;

9. That we believe that it is a sufficient justification considering that

Manila-based publications adopted the said rate for publication fee;

10. That the undersigned petitioners, the Publisher’s Association of

Bulacan, would like to formally appeal to the following mortgagees, namely:
Pag-IBIG, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) and
Balikatan to comply with the price rate for legal publication as mandated by
PD 1079 adopted by the Supreme Court En Banc A.M. No. 1-01-1-07-SC,
which is Php15,000.00, as opposed to the current Php5,000.00 per Notice of
Sheriff’s Sale;

11. That for the record, the we are only charging the amount of
Php5,000.00 for every Sheriff’s Notice of Sale as publishers fee for almost
fifteen (15) years to Pag-IBIG, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation
(NHMFC) and Balikatan, hence, the said fee would definitey prove that it is
no longer enough to cover the expenses of every accredited publisher here in
Bulacan;

12. That due to the increase of expenses of printing materials,

labor and operational expenses, not to mention that our country’s economic
resilience is still reviving to the onslaught brought about by the wordlwide
pandemic CoVID-19 virus, hence, we, the Publishers Association of Bulacan,
respectfully propose to recommend that the publication fee of Sheriff’s Notice
of Sale be increased and be standardized to Php15,000.00, including
publication fees for the Pag-IBIG, National Home Mortgage Finance
Corporation (NHMFC) and Balikatan;

13. That we certainly hope for our request to be approved. It will

 augment our publication fee thus, it be attuned to the inflation and increasing
demand of our operational expenses to enable our publication business to
strive to the increasing cost of printing materials, labor and operational
expenses.

PRAYER

WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, it is most respectfully

prayed of this Honorable Court that this Petition be granted.

Petioner further pray for such other reliefs and remedies available under
the circumstances.

Malolos City, this ________________ day of ___________2023.

FELIX B. CAMACHO JOSE BALBINO

Publisher Publisher
Bulakan Herald News Weekly Luzon Insider

MAUREEN BATONGBAKAL CRISTINE S. VILLANUEVA

Publisher Publisher
Weekly Blue Print Ronda/Balita

ROGELIO L. VERCELES
Publisher
Abante Bulacan Today News

VERIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION

OF NON-FORUM SHOPPING

WE, FELIX B. CAMACHO, JOSE BALBINO, MAUREEN

BATONGBAKAL, CRISTINE S. VILLANUEVA and ROGELIO L.
VERCELES, all of legal age, Filipino and residents of
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
, avers under oath that we are the Petitioners that caused the preparation of the
foregoing Petition;
We certify that the same are true and correct to the best of my personal
knowledge and based on authentic records.

We have not commenced any action or filed any claim involving the same
issues in any court, tribunal or quasi-judicial agency and, to the best of my
knowledge, no such other action or claim is pending therein; and should We
thereafter learn that the same or similar action or claim has been filed or is
pending before any court, tribunal or quasijudicial agency, We undertake to
report said fact within five (5) days from such knowledge to this Honorable
Court.

IN TRUTH WHEREOF, We have hereunto affixed our signatures

below this ____________day of _______________________, at
_____________, Bulacan.

FELIX B. CAMACHO JOSE BALBINO

Affiant Affiant

MAUREEN BATONGBAKAL CRISTINE S. VILLANUEVA

Affiant Affiant

ROGELIO L. VERCELES
Affiant

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this _____day of

____________________, affiant exhibiting to me their following government
issued ID’s:
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
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