The Supreme Court has recently ordered the Court of Appeals (CA) to reinstate and to proceed with dispatch as to the Republic of the Philippines’ petition for certiorari which the CA had earlier dismissed for late filing. In the said petition, the Republic assailed the trial court’s denial of its urgent motion for a writ of possession and order for it to immediately pay private respondent St. Vincent de Paul Colleges, Inc. 100% of the value of the property the Republic had sought to expropriate for the construction of the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway Project (MCTEP).
In dismissing the Republic’s petition for certiorari for being filed out of time, the CA had relied on the SC's Laguna Metts Corporation ruling that the 60-day period to file a petition for certiorari is non-extendible.
In a 12-page decision penned by Justice Bienvenido L. Reyes, the Court’s Second Division, however, reiterated that while under Rule 65, sec. 4 and as applied in Laguna Metts Corporation, the general rule is that a petition for certiorari must be filed within 60 days from notice of the judgment, order, or resolution sought to be assailed, under exceptional circumstances and subject to the sound discretion of the Court, said period may be extended pursuant to the Domdom, Labao, and Mid-Islands Power General Corporation rulings.
In this case, the Court held that the CA should have admitted the Republic’s petition since first, due to its (the CA’s) own lapse, thinking that what the Republic had filed was a petition for review, it granted the extension sought by the Republic; second, because of the public interest involved, i.e., expropriation of private property for public use (MCTEP); and finally, no undue prejudice or delay will be caused to the parties in admitting the petition. (GR No.192908, Republic v. St. Vincent de Paul Colleges, Inc., August 22, 2012)
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