COMMISSIONER DOMINGO VS. SCHEER G.R. No. 154745. January 29, 2004
FACTS:
Herbert Markus Emil Scheer, a German, was given permanent status to reside in the Philippines on July 18, 1986. He married a Filipina and have 3 children. He also opened a restaurant in Puerto Prinsesa.
One day, the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) received information that Scheer was wanted by the German Federal Police that a warrant of arrest had been issued against him.
The BOC thereafter issued a Summary Deportation against Scheer.
In issuing the said order, the BOC relied on the correspondence from the German Vice-Consul on its speculation that it was unlikely that the German Embassy will issue a new passport to the respondent; on the warrant of arrest issued by the District Court of Germany against the respondent for insurance fraud; and on the alleged illegal activities of the respondent in Palawan. The BOC concluded that the respondent was not only an undocumented but an undesirable alien as well.
When the respondent was apprised of the deportation order, he forthwith aired his side to then BID Commissioner Leandro T. Verceles. The Commissioner allowed the respondent to remain in the Philippines, giving the latter time to secure a clearance and a new passport from the German Embassy.
Respondent filed an MR. However, the BOC did not resolve the respondent's motion. The respondent was neither arrested nor deported.
Meanwhile, on February 15, 1996, the District Court of Straubing rendered a Decision dismissing the criminal case against the respondent for physical injuries. The German Embassy in Manila, thereafter, issued a temporary passport to the respondent.
In a Letter dated March 1, 1996, the respondent informed Commissioner Verceles that his passport had been renewed following the dismissal of the said criminal case. He reiterated his request for the cancellation of the Summary Deportation Order dated September 27, 1995, and the restoration of his permanent resident status.[19] Subsequently, on March 12, 1996, the German Embassy issued to the respondent a regular passport, to expire on March 11, 2006.
The BOC still failed to resolve the respondent's Urgent Motion for Reconsideration. Commissioner Verceles did not respond to the respondents March 1, 1996, Letter.
The respondent remained in the Philippines and maintained his business in Palawan. On March 20, 1997, the Department of Labor and Employment approved his application for Alien Employment Registration Certificate as manager of the Bavaria Restaurant in Puerto Princesa City.
In the meantime, petitioner Immigration Commissioner Andrea T. Domingo assumed office. She wrote the German Embassy and inquired if the respondent was wanted by the German police. On April 12, 2002, the German Embassy replied that the respondent was not so wanted.
At about midnight on June 6, 2002, Marine operatives and BID agents apprehended the respondent in his residence on orders of the petitioner. He was whisked to the BID Manila Office and there held in custody while awaiting his deportation. Despite entreaties from the respondent's wife and his employees, the petitioner refused to release the respondent.
Shocked at the sudden turn of events, the respondent promptly communicated with his lawyer. The latter filed with the BID a motion for bail to secure the respondent's temporary liberty.
On June 11, 2002, the respondent's counsel filed with the Court of Appeals a petition for certiorari, prohibition, and mandamus with a prayer for temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injunction, to enjoin the petitioner from proceeding with the respondent's deportation.
The respondent (petitioner therein) alleged, inter alia, that his arrest and detention were premature, unjust, wrongful, illegal and unconstitutional, effected without sufficient cause and without jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion. He asserted that there was no speedy remedy open to him in the ordinary course of law and that his Urgent Motion for Reconsideration of the Summary Deportation Order of the BOC had not yet been resolved despite the lapse of more than six years.
The respondent averred that he was a fully documented alien, a permanent resident and a law-abiding citizen.
CA issued a status quo order restraining the petitioner from deporting the respondent on a bond of P100,000.00.
BOC issued an Omnibus Resolution dated June 14, 2002, pendente lite denying the respondents Urgent Motion for Reconsideration, Motion for Bail/Recognizance.
On August 20, 2002, the Court of Appeals rendered a Decision in favor of the respondent granting his petition for certiorari and prohibition and permanently enjoining the petitioner from deporting the respondent.
ISSUE:
1. WON the Board of Commissioners is an indispensable party.
2. WON the the Non-joinder of an Indispensable Party is a Ground for the Dismissal of the Petition
3. WON The CA had Jurisdiction Over the Petition for Certiorari, Prohibition, and Mandamus
HELD:
2. YES. The BOC is an Indispensable Party. We agree with the petitioner's contention that the BOC was an indispensable party to the respondents' petition for certiorari, prohibition, and mandamus in the Court of Appeals. The respondent was arrested and detained on the basis of the Summary Deportation Order of the BOC. The petitioner caused the arrest of the respondent in obedience to the said Deportation Order. The respondent, in his Memorandum, prayed that the CA annul not only the Summary Deportation Order of the BOC but also the latter's Omnibus Resolution, and, thus, order the respondents immediate release. The respondent also prayed that the CA issue a writ of mandamus for the immediate resolution of his Urgent Motion for Reconsideration. The said motion had to be resolved by the BOC as the order sought to be resolved and reconsidered was issued by it and not by the petitioner alone. The powers and duties of the BOC may not be exercised by the individual members of the Commission.
2. NO. Section 7, Rule 3 of the Rules of Court, as amended, requires indispensable parties to be joined as plaintiffs or defendants. The joinder of indispensable parties is mandatory. Without the presence of indispensable parties to the suit, the judgment of the court cannot attain real finality. Strangers to a case are not bound by the judgment rendered by the court. The absence of an indispensable party renders all subsequent actions of the court null and void. Lack of authority to act not only of the absent party but also as to those present. The responsibility of impleading all the indispensable parties rests on the petitioner/plaintiff.
However, the non-joinder of indispensable parties is not a ground for the dismissal of an action. Parties may be added by order of the court on motion of the party or on its own initiative at any stage of the action and/or such times as are just. If the petitioner/plaintiff refuses to implead an indispensable party despite the order of the court, the latter may dismiss the complaint/petition for the petitioner/plaintiffs failure to comply therefor.The remedy is to implead the non-party claimed to be indispensable. In this case, the CA did not require the respondent (petitioner therein) to implead the BOC as respondent but merely relied on the rulings of the Court in Vivo v. Arca, and Vivo v. Cloribel. The CAs reliance on the said rulings is, however, misplaced. The acts subject of the petition in the two cases were those of the Immigration Commissioner and not those of the BOC; hence, the BOC was not a necessary nor even an indispensable party in the aforecited cases.
3. YES. The settled rule is that the authority to exclude or expel aliens by a power affecting international relation is vested in the political department of the government, and is to be regulated by treaty or by an act of Congress, and to be executed by the executive authority according to the regulations so established, except in so far as the judicial department has been authorized by treaty or by statute, or is required by the Constitution to intervene. The judicial department cannot properly express an opinion upon the wisdom or the justice of the measures executed by Congress in the exercise of the power conferred on it, by statute or as required by the Constitution. Congress may, by statute, allow the decision or order of the Immigration Commissioner or the BOC to be reviewed by the President of the Philippines or by the courts, on the grounds and in the manner prescribed by law.
Article VIII, Section 1 of the Constitution has vested judicial power in the Supreme Court and the lower courts such as the Court of Appeals, as established by law. Although the courts are without power to directly decide matters over which full discretionary authority has been delegated to the legislative or executive branch of the government and are not empowered to execute absolutely their own judgment from that of Congress or of the President, the Court may look into and resolve questions of whether or not such judgment has been made with grave abuse of discretion, when the act of the legislative or executive department violates the law or the Constitution. In Harvy Bridges v. I.F. Wixon, the United States Federal Supreme Court reversed an Order of Deportation made by the Attorney General for insufficiency of evidence and for improper admission of evidence. In Nging v. Nagh,the United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit Court) held that conclusions of administrative offices on the issues of facts are invulnerable in courts unless when they are not rendered by fair-minded men; hence, are arbitrary. In Toon v. Stump, the Court ruled that courts may supervise the actions of the administrative offices authorized to deport aliens and reverse their rulings when there is no evidence to sustain them. When acts or omissions of a quasi-judicial agency are involved, a petition for certiorari or prohibition may be filed in the Court of Appeals as provided by law or by the Rules of Court, as amended.
In this case, the respondent alleges that the petitioner acted arbitrarily, contrary to law and with grave abuse of discretion in causing his arrest and detention at a time when his Urgent Motion for Reconsideration of the BOCs Summary Deportation Order had yet to be resolved. There was no factual or legal basis for his deportation considering that he was a documented alien and a law-abiding citizen; the respondent, thus, prayed for a writ of mandamus to compel the petitioner, the Chairperson of the BOC, to resolve the said motion. The petition before the CA did not involve the act or power of the President of the Philippines to deport or exclude an alien from the country. This being so, the petition necessarily did not call for a substitution of the Presidents discretion on the matter of the deportation of the respondent with that of the judgment of the CA.