Case Digest: ZENAIDA ORTEGA v. THE QUEZON CITY GOVERNMENT, et al. 469 SCRA 388 (2005)

ZENAIDA ORTEGA v. THE QUEZON CITY GOVERNMENT, et al. 469 SCRA 388 (2005)

Zenaida Ortega comes directly to the Supreme Court assailing the validity of a Quezon City Ordinance which reclassified ―as residential or converted from its original classification to residential for distribution or for sale to its informal settlers a ―parcel of land which may be considered as accretion/excess lot and to those lots previously referred to when the ordinance has just been proposed. Ortega, the rightful owner of the land subject of the ordinance, alleges that in enacting the ordinance, her various letter-protests which contains all her claims, were not heeded in the City Council, thus violating her constitutional rights to due process and equal protection of the law. The Quezon City government alleges that the present petition raises a question of fact which entails reception of evidence.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over the case at bar

HELD:

Under Article VIII, Section 5 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court shall have the power to ―review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm on appeal or certiorari, as the law or the Rules of Court may provide, final judgments and orders of lower courts in all cases in which the constitutionality or validity of any treaty, international or executive agreement, law, presidential decree, proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance, or regulation is in question. The Supreme Court can thus only review, revise, reverse, modify on appeal or certiorari final judgments and orders of lower courts in all cases in which the constitutionality or validity of, among other things, an ordinance is in question. Foremost, therefore, is that there must be first a final judgment rendered by an inferior court before the Supreme Court can assume jurisdiction over a case of this nature. It does not analyze or weigh evidence brought before it at the first instance, otherwise, it would preempt the primary function of the lower court to try the case on the merits, receive evidence, and decide the case definitively.