Case Digest: FERDINAND S. TOPACIO v. ASSOCIATE JUSTICE GREGORY SANTOS ONG and THE OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL, 541 SCRA 211 (2008)

FERDINAND S. TOPACIO v. ASSOCIATE JUSTICE GREGORY SANTOS ONG and THE OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL, 541 SCRA 211 (2008)

Petitioner Ferdinand Topacio implored the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to initiate post-haste a quo warranto proceeding against Gregory Santos Ong. He points out that natural-born citizenship is also a qualification for appointment as member of the Sandiganbayan and that Ong has failed to meet the citizenship requirement. Ong, on the other hand, avers that the RTC already granted his petition and recognized him as a natural-born citizen. The decision having become final, he caused the corresponding annotation thereof in his Certificate of Birth. The OSG informed Topacio that it cannot favorably act on request for the filing of a quo warranto petition until the RTC case shall have been terminated with finality. Topacio assails this position of the OSG as being tainted with grave abuse of discretion.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the OSG committed grave abuse of discretion in deferring the filing of a petition for quo warranto.

HELD:

The Court appreciates no abuse of discretion, much less, a grave one, on the part of the OSG in deferring action on the filing of a quo warranto case until after the RTC case has been terminated with finality. A decision is not deemed tainted with grave abuse of discretion simply because the affected party disagrees with it. The Solicitor General is the counsel of the government, its agencies and instrumentalities, and its officials or agents. In the discharge of its task, the Solicitor General must see to it that the best interest of the government is upheld within the limits set by law. In the exercise of sound discretion, the Solicitor General may suspend or turn down the institution of an action for quo warranto where there are just and valid reasons. Upon receipt of a case certified to him, the Solicitor General exercises his discretion in the management of the case. He may start the prosecution of the case by filing the appropriate action in court or he may opt not to file the case at all. He may do everything within his legal authority but always conformably with the national interest and the policy of the government on the matter at hand. It appears that after studying the case, the Solicitor General saw the folly of re-litigating the same issue of Ong‘s citizenship in the quo warranto case simultaneously with the RTC case, not to mention the consequent risk of forum-shopping. In any event, the OSG did not totally write finis to the issue as it merely advised petitioner to await the outcome of the RTC case.