SC validates election results of new AMWSLAI officers

The Supreme Court’s decision settling the leadership row in the P14-billion Air Materiel Wing Savings and Loan Association, Inc. cooperative has become final and executory with the handing down of its entry of judgment on Wednesday.

Last April 29, the Court has resolved with finality the AMWSLAI leadership row by affirming the validity of the Jan. 18, 2008 election of the new AMWSLAI board members. AMWSLAI has 230,000 active and retired members of the armed forces and the Philippine National Police as members.

In its 12-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, the Court’s Third Division denied “for lack of merit” the “very urgent omnibus motion” filed by the group of retired Police Col. Luvin  Manay.

With the denial of the omnibus motion, the Court upheld the legitimacy of the election of retired Air Force Col. Ricardo Nolasco Jr. and seven others as members of the AMWSLAI board of trustees.

Also elected to the AMWSLAI board in the Jan. 18, 2008 were retired Air Force officials Thaddeus Estalilla, Morado Mercado, Ismael Abad, Ricardo Perido, Angel Tapac, Antonio Gumba, and Cesar Toledanes. Those elected in the Jan. 18 election together with Rolando Cacabelos, Odelon Mendoza, and Cedric Reyes who were elected in 2006, now compose the AMWSLAI 11-member board of trustees.

“On a final note, it must be stated that the continuing battle of which group should sit in the governing body of the AMWSLAI has caused doubts and uncertainties in the minds of the hundreds of thousands who have invested their life savings therein. It affects not only the stability of this financial institution but of the  economy at large. It is fitting that we should writ finis to this controversy, and allow the AMWSLAI to regain the confidence of its members and of the general public,” the Court said.

In its resolution, the Court stressed that “no further pleadings shall be entertained.”

In issuing its decision affirming the validity of the Jan. 18 AMWSLAI board election, the Court agreed with Nolasco’s camp that the correct remedy for the respondents (Manay’s camp) in seeking the annulment of the Jan. 18 election should have been through a motion for reconsideration with the Court of Appeals and, upon its denial, a petition for certiorari and prohibition before the Court.

The SC noted that Manay’s group had improperly elevated the case to the Court. “We cannot take cognizance of proceedings before the Court of Appeals unless they are brought before us through the proper mode of review. The omnibus motion cannot be a  substitute for the remedy of a special civil action for certiorari.” the SC said. The Court added that Manay’s “omnibus motion” was also filed without the payment of docket fees, which is an indispensable requirement before the Court can take cognizance of a case or controversy.

“Worse, they are attempting to circumvent the Rules of Court by praying for reliefs which are available only through a petition for certiorari and prohibition.” The SC admonished, adding that “the omnibus motion is so wanting in form and substance that it cannot pass for a petition for certiorari and prohibition,” the Court said.

The Court also said Manay’s camp is guilty of forum shopping with its filing of the omnibus motion.

“It is clear that by filing the omnibus motion respondents seek to pre-empt the resolution of the very same issue that is currently pending before the Court of Appeals. Forum shopping is not only contumacious but  also deplorable because it adds to the congestion of the heavily burdened dockets of the courts,” the Court said.

It would be recalled that the Court of Appeals had earlier issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the Pasay City RTC Branch 117 from enforcing

its order that would unseat all the 11 members of the AMWSLAI board of trustees in a petition filed by Cacabelos, Mendoza, and Reyes who were elected board directors in 2006.

Restrained by the CA was the Dec. 10, 2007 order of Pasay City RTC Branch 117 Judge Jesus Mupas directing the group of Manay, ret. Air Force Col. Antonio Mantuano, retired Air Force Maj. Jose Elaurza, ret. Air Force Lt. Johnson Ocfemia and ret. Air Force Col. Anselmo Geronimo to take over the operations of AMWSLAI in place of the 11-member board led by Nolasco.

Nolasco, for his part, hailed the SC’s ruling, saying members of the country’s second largest enlisted personnel  savings and loans association can rest assured of continued stability and prompt service from AMWSLAI.

“Now that the highest court of the land has spoken, our members can count on the stable and efficient management of the AMWSLAI’s funds by the duly elected officers. No less than the High Court has affirmed our mandate and validated the trust of those who voted us into office. We can now put this legal problem behind us,” Nolasco said.

Earlier, in a three-page resolution dated Feb. 28 2008, the Court’s Third Division and promulgated on March 28, 2008, merely noted the urgent motion filed by Manay’s group which seeks the annulment of the January 18, 2008 AMWSLAI board elections.

“Now that the highest court of the land has spoken, our members can count on the stable and efficient management of the AMWSLAI’s funds by the duly elected officers. No less than the High Court has affirmed our mandate and validated the trust  of those who voted us into office. We can now put this legal problem behind us,” Nolasco said in a statement.