GR L 46409; (April, 1939) (Digest)
G.R. No. L-46409. April 5, 1939
INSULAR MOTORS INCORPORATED, petitioner, vs. CITY OF MANILA and JOSE GARRIDO, City Engineer, respondents.
FACTS
Petitioner Insular Motors Inc. applied for a building permit to construct a building on a leased parcel of land in Intramuros, Manila. The City Engineer denied the application because the petitioner refused to provide a written promise to comply with the provisions of a proposed zonification ordinance pending final approval by the President of the Philippines.
ISSUE
Whether the City Engineer may be compelled by a writ of mandamus to grant the building permit.
RULING
No. The petition for mandamus is denied. A writ of mandamus issues only when the petitioner has a clear legal right to the act demanded and the law imposes an imperative duty on the respondent to perform it. Here, the petitioner failed to establish such a clear right. The function of the City Engineer in granting permits is discretionary, not ministerial, and mandamus cannot control discretion absent a grave abuse thereof. The pendency of the zonification ordinance does not change this conclusion.
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