GR 39810; (August, 1934) (Digest)
G.R. No. 39810; August 31, 1934
BENITO TAN CHAT, ET AL., plaintiff-appellee, vs. THE MUNICIPALITY OF ILOILO, defendant-appellant.
FACTS
The Municipal Council of Iloilo enacted Ordinance No. 10, series of 1931, prohibiting the storage and sale of lumber and the keeping of lumber stores on specified streets, including Iznart Street where the plaintiffs operated their lumber businesses. The ordinance declared existing lumber stores on those streets as public nuisances and gave them six months to relocate. The plaintiffs, lumber merchants with lawful businesses operating in buildings of strong material, filed an action to annul the ordinance, alleging it violated their rights. The defendant municipality defended the ordinance as a valid exercise of its police power under the Revised Administrative Code, aimed at abating public nuisances, ensuring public safety, and implementing zoning for urbanization and beautification.
ISSUE
Whether Ordinance No. 10 is a valid exercise of the municipality’s police power, either as an ordinance abating a public nuisance or as a zoning regulation.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court declared Ordinance No. 10 null and void. The ordinance was not a valid exercise of police power to abate a nuisance because the plaintiffs’ lumber businesses were lawful and not nuisances per se or in fact, as they operated without causing annoyance or danger. The municipality failed to present sufficient evidence that the businesses constituted a public nuisance. The ordinance also could not be justified as a zoning regulation because it did not create any coherent zone, merely listing streets without a rational basis, and its true object appeared to be to arbitrarily drive the plaintiffs out of their location. The ordinance was an unconstitutional abuse of power. The decision of the trial court was affirmed.
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