Ortega v. The Quezon City Government

Facts:

Petitioner Zenaida Ortega assailed the validity of Quezon City Ordinance No. SP 1304, Series of 2003, and praying that the following agencies, National Housing Authority (NHA), Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Bureau of Land Management, National Home Mortgage Financing Corporation, and Home Insurance Guarantee Corporation, be restrained from implementing the said ordinance.

Proposed Ordinance No. 2002-07 (PO 2002-07) sought to approve "the Subdivision Plan of Samahang Kapitbahayan ng Barangay Vasra (Samahang Kapitbahayan), a Socialized Housing Project (B.P. Blg. 220) with 17 lots (Community Mortgage Program) owned by the City Government of Quezon City (Vendor) located at a portion of [an] easement [in] Barangay Vasra, Quezon City, Metro Manila, as applied for by the Samahang Kapitbahayan ng Barangay Vasra (Vendee).

Proposed Resolution No. 2003-13 (PR 2003-13) sought to authorize Quezon City Mayor Feliciano R. Belmonte to enter into a contract to sell a portion of an easement located at Barangay Vasra, Quezon City with the SAMAHANG KAPITBAHAYAN to be represented by its President, through the Community Mortgage Program (CMP) of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC).

Quezon City government enacted Ordinance No. SP-1304, Series of 2003 (the ordinance), which is being challenged in the present petition, reclassifying "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 an accretion/excess lot and previously conceived and referred to in Proposed Ordinance No. 2002-07 and Proposed [Resolution] 2002-13 as portion of [an] easement situated between Block 14, Psd-39577 of the original subdivision plan and Culiat Creek, Barangay Vasra, Quezon City."

Petitioner, who claims to be the rightful owner of the land subject of the ordinance, alleges that in enacting the ordinance, her various letter-protests to the City Council against proposed Resolutions No. 2002-13, 2002-07 and 2002-239 were not heeded in the City Council, thus violating her constitutional rights to due process and equal protection of the law.

Issue:

Whether or not the petitioner is entitled for declaratory relief

Held:

While a petition for declaratory relief may be treated as one for prohibition if it has far reaching implications and raises questions that need to be resolved, there is no allegation of facts by petitioner tending to show that she is entitled to such a writ. The judicial policy must thus remain that this Court will not entertain direct resort to it, except when the redress sought cannot be obtained in the proper courts or when exceptional and compelling circumstances warrant availment of a remedy within and calling for the exercise of this Court’s primary jurisdiction.