G.R. No. L-6241, L-6231, L-6272 February 26, 1954.
JUAN D. SALVADOR, NATIVIDAD ARIAGA, and MARIANO CACHO, petitioners,

vs.
LA PAZ ICE PLANT & COLD STORAGE CO., INC. and ANOTHER, respondents.

FACTS

The petitioners, Juan D. Salvador, Natividad Ariaga, and Mariano Cacho, each applied for a certificate of public convenience to install and operate an ice plant and cold storage in Iloilo City. After a joint hearing, the Public Service Commission (PSC) granted each petitioner a certificate on March 28, 1950. The opponents, La Paz Ice Plant & Cold Storage Co., Inc. and Elpidio Javellana, filed motions for reconsideration. The Supreme Court, in its decisions dated May 28, 1951 (G.R. Nos. L-4053-55) and December 17, 1952 (G.R. Nos. L-4841, L-4821, L-4829), ultimately affirmed the PSC’s March 28, 1950 decision in its entirety. After the finality of the Supreme Court’s judgment, La Paz Ice Plant filed a motion on March 24, 1952, under Section 17(a) of Commonwealth Act No. 146 , seeking to suspend the operation of the petitioners’ ice plants. On October 3, 1952, two PSC Commissioners (Prieto and Paredes, Jr.) issued orders granting the suspension. The petitioners challenged these suspension orders through the present petitions for certiorari.

ISSUE

Whether the Public Service Commission Commissioners acted without jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion in ordering the suspension of the operation of the petitioners’ ice plants under Section 17(a) of Commonwealth Act No. 146 .

RULING

The Supreme Court granted the petitions and set aside the suspension orders. The Court ruled that Section 17(a) of Commonwealth Act No. 146 , which empowers the Commission to order a public service to cease operations for lacking a certificate of public convenience, does not apply to the petitioners. The petitioners were not unauthorized operators; they were legitimate holders of certificates of public convenience granted by the PSC’s final and affirmed decision of March 28, 1950. The suspension was ordered summarily, without a hearing or proof that the petitioners had violated any law, order, rule, or regulation of the Commission, as would be required under Section 16(n) of the law to revoke or amend a certificate. The attempt by two Commissioners to modify the location of the plants through earlier orders (January 29 and February 1, 1951) was declared null and void by the Supreme Court on December 17, 1952, which reinstated the original March 28, 1950 decision in toto. Therefore, the majority of the Commission committed a grave abuse of discretion in ordering the suspension, which constituted an illegal deprivation of the petitioners’ vested rights. Costs were awarded against La Paz Ice Plant & Cold Storage Co., Inc.