Case Doctrine:
There is forum shopping when litis pendencia or res
judicata is present.
FACTS:
The petitioner Encinas was the
Provincial Fire Marshall of Nueva Ecija. He was charged administratively with
grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service in
violation of the Administrative Code of 1987. He was dismissed from the service.
The two respondents were holding the positions of Fire Officer I. He petitioner
filed a petition for review on certiorari under rule 45 of the Rules of Court assailing
the decision of the Court of Appeals affirming the decision of the Civil
Service Commission to dismiss the petitioner from the service.
The case arose when the
petitioner allegedly required the respondents to pay him P5,000 in order not to
relieve them from their station at the Cabanatuan City and re-assign them to a
far flung area. The respondents decided to pay in fear of the re-assignment, but
they manage to come up with P2,000 only causing the petitioner to order for
their re-assignment to Cuyapo and Talugtug.
As a result, the respondents
decided to file a complaint for illegal transfer before the Bureau of Fire
Protection and at the same time filed another complaint before the Civil
Service Commission Regional Office in Pampanga and the Civil Service Commission
in Cabanatuan. Based on the filed complaints, the petitioner alleges that the respondents
are guilty of forum shopping by filing the two identical complaints. The
petitioner claims that the charges of dishonesty, grave misconduct and conduct
prejudicial to public interest that were filed before the Civil Service Commission
and the BFP are in violation of the rules against forum shopping.
ISSUE:
Is there a violation on the
rules against forum shopping?
