KABUGAO, Apayao – The Office of the Ombudsman junked two more criminal and administrative charges filed by concerned individuals against some thirteen officials of the regional and provincial offices of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and a number of tribal leaders of the town’s ancestral domain for lack of probable cause and in violation of the law on forum shopping.
In a 32-page consolidated resolution penned by Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer III Maria Viviane Cacho-Calicdan and approved by Ombudsman Samuel Martires, the Ombudsman was compelled to dismiss the said cases without delving into their merits for violation of the rule against forum shopping.
Records showed that complainants together with other individuals filed successive complaints involving the same respondents and for the same cause of action before different bodies beginning with the NCIP where the Commission en banc denied the motion for reconsideration seeking the reversal of the issuance of the certification pre-condition for the project in favor of Pan Pacific Renewable Power Phils. Corp (PPRPPC) via consolidated resolution dated May 9, 2023.
The said NCIP complaint was followed by identical complaints on January 18, 2023 with the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor of Apayao. The said office dismissed the two complaints for lack of probable cause in resolutions both dated Junes 26, 2023.
Again, two identical complaints were filed against the respondents on December 28, 2022 and January 25, 2023, respectively, with the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon, another similar complaint with the Ombudsman central office filed on May 2, 2024 against the same respondents, only with the inclusion of the NCIP Chairman as party respondent, which is still pending preliminary investigation and administrative adjudication.
“Complainants proclivity of filing complaints with different for a based on the same causes of action clearly violates the rule against forum shopping,” the consolidated resolution stressed.
It stipulated that jurisprudence teaches that there is forum shopping when a party respectively avails of similar judicial remedies in different courts simultaneously or successively all substantially founded on the same transactions and the same essential facts and circumstances and all raising substantially the same issues either pending in or already resolved aversely by some other courts.
The resolution pointed out that forum shopping is a form of malpractice that is prohibited and condemned because it trifles with the courts and abuses their processes.
Moreover, it degrades the administration of justice and adds to the already congested court dockets and that the grave evil sought to be avoided by the rule against forum shopping is the rendition by two competent tribunals of two separate and contradictory decisions.
According to the consolidated resolution, unscrupulous party litigants, taking advantage of a variety of competent tribunals may repeatedly try their luck in several different cases until a favorable result is reached.
The resolution argued that what is truly important to consider in determining whether forum shopping exists or not is the vexation caused the courts and parties litigants by a party who asks different courts and/or administrative agencies to rule on the same related causes and/or grant the same or substantially the same relief in the process creating the possibility of conflicting decisions being rendered by the different for a on the same issues.
The Ombudsman asserted that it is a hornbook rule that jurisdiction is a matter of law. Jurisdiction, once acquired, is not lost upon the instance of the parties but continues until the case is terminated. When complainants successively filed their complaints, jurisdiction was already vested on said bodies and could no longer be transferred to the Ombudsman by virtue of a similar complaint.
The Ombudsman dismissed the criminal complaints against former NCIP-CAR regional director Atanacio D. Addog, Lyman Benito Wad-asen Bangao, Agnes Donato Gabuat, Geoffry Ambong Calderon, Generaro Andulay Failoga, Kenny Marquez Pulog, Fritzie Delwasen Depdepen, Karla Dazzle Marie Tamot Malillin, Jezryl Inopia De Peralta, Ricky Neil Carter Balyao Ayabo, Vice Mayor Fabulous Bunga Tucjang, John Anthony Sario Amid, Sario Dulam Daguyam, Vilma Dulam Banggay, Baltazar Legasi, Domrique, Jaime U. Diza, Jonathan D. Dutoc, Celestro T. Diza, Angel C. Sadag, Manuel A. Gallate, and hector Occong Tahiyam.
Subsequently, the administrative complaints that were filed against the NCIP regional and provincial officials, Kabugao municipal officials and concerned barangay officials were also dismissed by the Ombudsman.
The said officials were earlier charged criminally for violation of pertinent provisions of the Revised Penal code, Republic Act (RA) 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and administrative charges for grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service with prayer for preventive suspension.
The charges stemmed from the memorandum of agreement (MOA) entered into by and between the Isnag indigenous peoples comprising the Kabugao Indigenous Peoples Organization and the PPRPPC relative to the proposed construction of the 150-megawatt Gened-1 hydroelectric power plant in the municipality. By Dexter A. See
