G.R. No.

L-77816

June 30, 1988

PCGG v. Aquino
Nature: Petition for review of special civil actions for certiorari, prohibition
and/or mandamus regarding the jurisdiction of the over the P.
Facts:
Marcelo, as pres. of MFC (Marcelo Fiberglass Corp.) (R), entered into a
contract with the Philippine Navy, represented by Rear Admiral Alejandro
who was then flag officer, for the construction & delivery of 55 units of
fiberglass high-speed patrol boats. They would be delivered within 36 months
when Navy pays R 30% of the contract price as downpayment. To facilitate
funding, R secured approval from Pres. Marcos since he was a wedding
godson, business partner, & dummy of the latter in several business corps.
for the issuance of guarantee by the gov. in acquiring foreign currency loan
in behalf of Navy with a foreign bank or offshore banking unit, or a peso term
loan to be negotiated by the PNB. Bank officials stated that it wont be
feasible to obtain foreign loan before the end of 1982 to finance contract
with R so R sought presidential approval to authorize Ministry of Budget &
Treasury to release the 1st down payment of P127,710,000 of the contract
price from the unprogrammed funds appropriated under the Defense
Capability Development Program of the Ministry of National Defense which
had a remaining balance of some P300,000,000.00 and to subsequently
include in the national budget of the Ministry of National Defense, the yearly
loan amortizations to be paid to R. The Navy, with the approval of former
President Marcos paid R the initial down payment stipulated in the contract
in violation of the contract which required that payment shall be made by
confirmed, irrevocable, divisible letter of credit established by the Philippine
Navy in favor of R. Despite this & following payments, R had never delivered
a boat. Because of this, the Minister of National Defense recommended to
PCGG (P) the sequestration of the assets of R and of Marcelo for the recovery
by the government of the full amount of P337,437,000 advanced to R under
the contract. R filed a case for certiorari and prohibition with RTC-Malabon
presided by Judge Aquino with a prayer for the issuance of a restraining order
and injunction to refrain or desist from sequestration which the latter
granted. On the issue of jurisdiction of the RTC over P, R contends that Sec. 2
of EO 14 vests the Sandiganbayan with jurisdiction over civil and criminal
cases filed by the PCGG but not over special civil actions filed by private
parties.

Issue:
Whether Judge Aquino may deny P from sequestering Ps property.
Ruling:
No. The court rules that RTCs and CA have no jurisdiction over P in the
exercise of its powers under the applicable EOs and Article XVIII, Section 26
of the Constitution and therefore may not interfere with and restrain or set
aside the orders, and actions of such as held in PCGG v. Pena. The
Sandiganbayan was held to have exclusive and original jurisdiction in civil or
criminal cases lodged before it, as well as incidents arising from, incidental,
or related to such cases, subject to review on certiorari exclusively by the
Supreme Court. The attempt to remove special civil actions from the
Sandiganbayans exclusive jurisdiction is of no avail if they similarly involve
the powers and functions of P.