G.R. No. L-21897; October 22, 1963
RAMON A. GONZALES, petitioner, vs. RUFINO G. HECHANOVA, as Executive Secretary, MACARIO PERALTA, JR., as Secretary of Defense, PEDRO GIMENEZ, as Auditor General, CORNELIO BALMACEDA, as Secretary of Commerce and Industry, and SALVADOR MARINO, Secretary of Justice, respondents.

FACTS

On September 22, 1963, the Executive Secretary authorized the importation of 67,000 tons of foreign rice from private sources and created a procurement committee for its implementation. Petitioner Ramon A. Gonzales, a rice planter and president of the Iloilo Palay and Corn Planters Association, filed an original action for prohibition with preliminary injunction. He contended that the respondents acted without or in excess of jurisdiction because Republic Act No. 3452, which allegedly amended Republic Act No. 2207, explicitly prohibited the importation of rice and corn by “the Rice and Corn Administration or any other government agency.” He argued he had no other plain, speedy, and adequate remedy and sought to restrain the implementation of the importation.
Respondents, in their answer, questioned petitioner’s legal standing and his failure to exhaust administrative remedies. On the merits, they defended the importation, asserting it was not governed by the cited laws but was instead authorized by the President as Commander-in-Chief under Commonwealth Act No. 1 for military stockpile purposes, constituting a necessary preventive measure for national security and the maintenance of peace.

ISSUE

The primary issue is whether the proposed government importation of rice is lawful, considering the statutory prohibitions and the President’s authority as Commander-in-Chief.

RULING

The Supreme Court granted the petition and made the preliminary injunction permanent. On procedural matters, the Court held petitioner had sufficient legal standing. As a substantial rice planter, he was among the class intended to benefit from RA 3452’s policy of government purchase from local producers. As a taxpayer, he also had an interest in preventing the alleged unlawful disbursement of public funds. The exhaustion of administrative remedies was deemed inapplicable as the dispute involved a pure question of law, the act was patently illegal if contrary to statute, and the respondent officials were alter-egos of the President.
On the substantive merits, the Court ruled the importation was illegal. The statutory prohibition in RA 2207 and RA 3452 against importation by “any government agency” was comprehensive and applied to all importations of rice and corn into the Philippines. The President’s authority to authorize importation under RA 2207 was a specific exception, limited by the conditions prescribed in that law, and was not invoked here. The defense based on the President’s powers as Commander-in-Chief under Commonwealth Act No. 1 was rejected. The Court held that the Commander-in-Chief power pertains to the command of the armed forces and the suppression of lawless violence, not to the general governance or economic policy of authorizing commodity imports. Such importation for “military stockpile” was a proprietary, not a military, function and fell squarely within the ambit of the prohibiting statutes. Therefore, the proposed importation was performed without jurisdiction and was enjoined.