The Supreme Court has upheld the decision issued by the Court of Appeals that stopped thrift bank Air Materiel Wing Savings and Loan Association Inc. from amending its by-laws to be able to expand its membership base to include 24 additional agencies of the Executive Department.
In a resolution, the SC’s Second Division ruled that CA did not commit any error in ruling that Regional Trial Court of Pasay City, Branch 119, gravely abused its discretion when it granted AMWSLAI's petition for certiorari on September 11, 2015 and issued a writ of preliminary injunction preventing the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas from implementing its June 26, 2015 decision denying AMSWLAI appeal to allow its expansion.
AMWSLAI has more than 200,000 members consisting of active and retired personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and their dependents.
“As correctly ruled by the CA, AMWSLAI should have filed an appeal before it under Rule 43 of the Rules of Court (Rules)—and not a petition for certiorari before the RTC under Rule 65 of the same Rules—considering that the CA has appellate jurisdiction over resolutions of public respondent which are issued in the exercise of its quasi-judicial functions,” the SC said.
“Accordingly, the RTC did not have jurisdiction to act on the above-mentioned certiorari petition, much more issue the ancillary writ of preliminary injunction against public respondent,” it said.
In its June 29, 2018 decision penned by Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh, the CA’s Tenth Division granted the petition filed by the BSP-Monetary Board seeking the reversal of the Pasay RTC ruling in favor of AMWSLAI.
Records show that Under R.A. No. 8367, otherwise known as the “Revised Non-Stock Savings and Loan Association Act of 1997,” membership in Savings and Loan Associations, such as AMWSLAI must be limited to a “well-defined group.”
The Monetary Board is vested with the authority to ensure that SLAs comply with this requirement.
But in May 2014, AMWSLAI sent a letter-application to the Intergrated Supervision Department I of the BSP for the approval of its proposed amendment to its by-laws to give way for the expansion of its membership to cover employees of 24 other agencies of the Executive Department, as well as their relatives by consanguinity and affinity.
AMWSLAI’s application was eventually referred to the Central Applications and Licensing Group of the BSP for evaluation.
However, CALG denied AMWSLAI’s application saying that the expansion of its members is contrary to the Section 4 of R.A. No. 8367.
It elevated its bid before the BSP-MB which also ruled to deny it.
Without filing a motion for reconsideration before the BSP-MB, AMWSLAI filed a petition for certiorari before the Pasay RTC which ruled in the latter’s favor.
However, the CA said “a petition for certiorari under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court to the RTC from the Monetary Board Resolution No. 1021 was the incorrect remedy considering that it may only be filed when there is no appeal, or any plain, speedy, and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law.”
“The RTC thus had no jurisdiction to act on the petition for certiorari… Consequently, it also had no authority to issue the writ of preliminary injunction in favor of AMWSLAI considering that it is merely an ancillary remedy to the main action for certiorari,” the CA declared.
