GR 27824; (February 1976) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-27824. February 27, 1976.
PHILIPPINE ASSOCIATION OF FREE LABOR UNIONS (PAFLU), ET AL., petitioners, vs. HON. GREGORIO D. MONTEJO, ZAMBOANGA WOOD PRODUCTS, INC., ET AL., respondents.
FACTS
The petitioners, labor unions and their officers, filed special civil actions of certiorari and prohibition to assail a writ of preliminary injunction issued by the Court of First Instance of Zamboanga City. The injunction, dated June 6, 1967, commanded PAFLU agents to refrain from entering the forest concession of respondent Zamboanga Wood Products, Inc. and to open the company’s private road to traffic. A subsequent order dated June 10, 1967 directed a specific union organizer not to picket on that road. The petitioners had established picket lines in connection with a strike declared on May 30, 1967. The respondent company justified the injunction by arguing that the closure of its private road did not constitute lawful picketing and amounted to a deprivation of its property rights. The case was submitted for decision in 1968.
ISSUE
Whether the petition for certiorari and prohibition assailing the writ of preliminary injunction has been rendered moot and academic.
RULING
Yes, the case is dismissed for being moot and academic. The Supreme Court, in a resolution dated January 14, 1976, required the parties to inform it if the case had become moot. In their manifestation dated January 28, 1976, the petitioners categorically stated that the underlying labor dispute, specifically the strike which gave rise to the injunction, had already been resolved. Consequently, the legal controversy that prompted the petition—the challenge to the validity of the injunction order restraining picketing activities during an active strike—no longer exists. There is no actual, live case or controversy requiring judicial determination. When an event occurs which makes it impossible for the court to grant any effective relief or renders a decision on the merits unnecessary to resolve the parties’ rights, the case becomes moot. The Court will not adjudicate moot questions or declare principles of law for hypothetical scenarios. Since the strike has been settled, any ruling on the propriety of the injunction would be an academic exercise with no practical legal effect. Therefore, the petition is dismissed. No costs.