GR 12102; (December, 1916)

EN BANC

G.R. No. 12102 December 1, 1916

GABINO BUSTOS, petitioner,

vs.
PERCY M. MOIR, judge of first instance of Pampanga, and PAULINO FAJARDO, respondents.

Gibbs, McDonough and Blanco for petitioner.
No appearance for the respondent judge.
Pedro Valdes Liongson for respondent Fajardo.

MORELAND, J.:

This is a petition for a writ of certiorari to be directed to the Honorable Percy M. Moir, judge of the Court of First Instance of Pampanga, requiring him to send to this court of proceedings had in an election contest to the end that they may be revised by this court and certain [parts] thereof annulled on the ground that they were taken without or in excess of the jurisdiction of the court.

The whole basis of the petition is that, during the trial of the election contest, which is the subject matter of this proceedings, it appeared from the evidence that, of the 319 votes cast for the office to which the parties to the contest aspired, 268 were votes cast by illiterates and persons physically unable to prepare their own ballots, and that all of the ballots cast by such persons were prepared for them by the inspectors of election and such cast by them without taking the oath required by the Election Law to be taken as a condition precedent to their right to aid in the preparation of their ballots. (Sec. 550, Administrative Code.) After hearing the evidence the respondent court declared the ballots so cast illegal and annulled the election. It is the act of the court which is declared to be outside of and in excess of its jurisdiction and upon which this proceeding for certiorari is based.lawphi1.net

We do not believe that this proceeding can be maintained. Under the Election Law the proper Court of First Instance has exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine election contests and to pronounce such judgments within the pleadings as he deems proper under the law. He is authorized, in a proper case, not only to recount the ballots and reject those which he considers illegal and accept those which he considers valid, but he is also authorized, in a proper case, to annul the election completely. That he has jurisdiction to do[so] is unquestioned. Courts of first instance have done so and their judgments have been affirmed by this court on appeal. This court on appeal has itself annulled elections (Manalo vs. Sevilla, 24 Phil. Rep., 609); and what this court is authorized to do on appeal a trial court may do in the first instance. Such being the case, the mere fact that the Court of First Instance in this case annulled the election is no reason for the claim that it exceeded its jurisdiction or that it acted without jurisdiction. It is absurd to claim that a court has no jurisdiction to do the very thing which the law authorizes to do. The mere fact that it decides the question wrong is of no consequence so far as this kind of proceeding is concerned. It is authorized by law to decide; and whether it decides right or wrong is utterly immaterial to the question of its jurisdiction. (In re Prautch, 1 Phil. Rep., 132; Springer vs. Odlin, 3 Phil. Rep., 344; Arzadon vs. Chanco and Baldueza, 14 Phil. Rep., 710; De Fiesta vs. Llorente and Manila Railroad Co., 25 Phil. Rep., 554; Herrera vs. Barretto and Joaquin, 25 Phil. Rep., 245; Gala vs. Cui and Rodriguez, 25 Phil. Rep., 522; Province of Tarlac vs. Gale, 26 Phil. Rep., 338; Napa vs. Weissenhagen, 29 Phil. Rep., 180; Government of the P. I. vs. Judge of First Instance of Iloilo and Bantillo, 34 Phil. Rep., 157.) Certiorari is not a proceeding to correct errors; but was created for the purpose of relieving persons from the arbitrary acts of courts and judges, that is, acts which they have no authority or power in law to perform (Id.). Errors may be corrected by appeal in cases where an appeal lies. In other cases the errors must be submitted to and borne because the legislature, the representative of the whole people, so decrees.

If the rules just set out did not prevail this court would be continually deciding election contests on the merits and would be compelling courts of first instance to decide them as this court might require. This would be in violation of law because the statute confers not only jurisdiction on the Courts of First Instance to her and determine election contests of this character, but it confers exclusive jurisdiction and provides that there shall be no appeal from its decision. If the resolution of the merits is confided exclusively to that court, the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands proceeds without authority and it is acting arbitrarily, when it attempts to interfere with that court in the exercise of that jurisdiction. It is of no consequence whatever to this court how wrong it may think the decision of the Court of First Instance to be in this class of election contests. That is something which does not concern it; and when such questions are presented to it its duty is to refuse to decide them.

We do not undertake to say whether the Court of First Instance was correct in its decision or not. That question is immaterial here an unnecessary to a decision of the case before us. The court below having jurisdiction to determine the election contest and having determined it according to its conception of the law and the facts, its judgment is not subject to review by this court.

The petition for a writ is denied, with the costs. So ordered.

Torres and Araullo, JJ., concur.
Carson and Trent, JJ., concur in the result.
Johnson, J., took no part.

Batas Pinas