BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – State lawyers from the city and provincial legal offices are currently gathering the necessary documentary evidence needed to support the filing of a Petition for Mandamus against the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
The government lawyers said the case build-up they are preparing is necessary for them to file an “airtight” case against the power transmission grid operator before the Regional Trial Court in Iloilo City to recover the damages caused by the four-day blackout that hit Panay Island and the rest of Western Visayas.
But how will a mandamus petition prosper?
In legal parlance, a mandamus petition is a legal remedy that seeks a court order compelling a public official, government agency, or any lower court to perform a specific duty required by law.
It is filed when any tribunal, corporation, board, officer, or person unlawfully neglects his performance, which the law specifically enjoins him to do being part of his duty.
The petitioner files the mandamus petition when he has “no other plain, speedy, and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law” to protect his rights.
In the case of Palileo versus Castro, the Supreme Court outlined the essential requisites for the issuance of the writ of mandamus provided that the legal right must be “clear and complete.’
“A clear legal right within the meaning of this rule means a right clearly founded in, or granted by law; a right which is inferable as a matter of law,” the tribunal said.
“It is essential that the claim should have been allowed by the officer vested with power to allow or reject it. Mandamus will not be awarded unless the right to relief is clear at the time of the award,” it stressed.
Hence, in filing a mandamus petition, the petitioner must establish his legal basis.
First, the petitioner needs to establish a clear legal right to the performance of the duty.
Second, there should be a clear legal duty on the part of the respondent, either the government official or entity.
Lastly, the petitioner must show that there is no other adequate legal remedy available.
Meanwhile, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) will join in the class suit against NGCP as well as law school officials from various law schools in the city, City Legal Officer Edgardo Gil confirmed.
The city legal officer said the damages that they will be seeking in the mandamus petition will be based on the losses reported by various establishments after the blackout.
The city government earlier pegged the losses at P1.5 billion while the provincial government lost about P3.5 billion due to the power outage./PN
