RULE 5
Preliminary Injunction
SECTION 1. Preliminary injunction defined; who may grant. – preliminary injunction is an order granted at any stage of an action or proceeding prior to the judgment or final order, requiring a party to an administrative case or any third person to refrain from a particular act or acts. It may also require the performance of a particular act or acts, in which case it shall be known as a preliminary mandatory injunction.
A preliminary injunction may be granted by the Hearing Officer who is hearing the case but no such power can be exercised as against a concurrent court or other Office which has already acquired jurisdiction over the subject matter.
SECTION 2. Grounds for issuance of Preliminary Injunction. – A preliminary injunction may be granted when it is established:
(a) That the applicant is entitled to the relief demanded, and the whole or part of such relief consists in restraining the commission or continuance of the act or acts complained of, or in requiring the performance of an act or acts, either for a limited period or perpetually;
(b) That the commission, continuance or non-performance of the act or acts complained of during the litigation would probably work injustice to the applicant; or
(c) That a party or any person is doing, threatening, or is attempting to do, or is procuring or suffering to be done, some act or acts probably in violation of the rights of the applicant respecting the subject of the action or proceeding and tending to render the judgment ineffectual.
SECTION 3. Verified Application and Bond for Preliminary Injunction or Temporary Restraining Order. – A preliminary or temporary restraining order may be granted only when:
(a) The application in the action or proceeding is verified and shows facts entitling the applicant to the relief demanded;
(b) Unless exempted, the applicant files with the Bureau a bond executed to the party or person enjoined in an amount to be fixed by the Hearing Officer, to the effect that the applicant will pay to such party or person all damages which the latter may sustain by reason of the injunction or temporary restraining order if the Hearing Officer should finally decide that the applicant was not entitled thereto. Upon approval of the requisite bond, a writ of preliminary injunction shall be issued;
(c) When an application for a writ of preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order is included in a complaint or any initiatory pleading, the case shall be raffled only after notice to and in the presence of the adverse party or the person to be enjoined. In any event, such notice shall be preceded, or accompanied by service of summons, together with a copy of the complaint or initiatory pleading and the applicant’s affidavit and bond upon the adverse party in the Philippines. However, where the summons could not be served personally or by substituted service despite diligent efforts, or the adverse party is a resident of the Philippines temporarily absent therefrom or is a nonresident thereof, the requirement of prior or contemporaneous service of summons shall not apply.
(d) The application for a temporary restraining order shall thereafter be acted upon only after all the parties are heard in a summary hearing which shall be conducted within twenty-four (24) hours after the sheriff’s return of service and/or the records are received by the Hearing Officer to whom the case was raffled and to whom the records shall be transmitted immediately.
If it shall appear from the facts shown that great or irreparable injury would result to the applicant, the Hearing Officer to whom the application for preliminary injunction was made, may issue a temporary restraining order to be effective only for a period of twenty (20) days from service on the party or person sought to be enjoined, except as herein provided. Within said twenty day period, the Hearing Officer must order said party or person to show cause, at a specified time and place, why the injunction should not be granted, determine within the same period whether or not the preliminary injunction shall be granted, and accordingly issue the corresponding order.
SECTION 4. Preliminary Injunction not Granted Without Notice; Exception. – No preliminary injunction shall be granted without hearing and prior notice to the party or person sought to be enjoined. Should the petition be granted after compliance with the requirement of due process, the Hearing Officer shall issue an order enjoining the party against whom it is issued from further committing acts detrimental or injurious to the applicant effective for a period of time not exceeding ninety (90) days as may be determined by the Hearing Officer with the concurrence of the Director without prejudice to the filing of a counterbond as provided in subsequent sections.
SECTION 5. Grounds for Objection to, or for Motion of Dissolution of, Injunction or Restraining Order. – The application for injunction or restraining order may be denied, upon showing of its insufficiency. The injunction or restraining order may also be denied, or if granted, may be dissolved, on other grounds upon affidavit of the party or person enjoined, which may be opposed by the applicant also by affidavit. It may further be denied, or, if granted, may be dissolved, if it appears after hearing that although the applicant is entitled to the injunction or restraining order, the issuance or continuance thereof, as the case may be, would cause irreparable damage to the party or person enjoined while the applicant can be fully compensated for such damages as he may suffer, and the former files a bond in an amount fixed by the Hearing Officer conditioned that he will pay all damages which the applicant may suffer by the denial or the dissolution of the injunction or restraining order. If it appears that the extent of the preliminary injunction or restraining order granted is too great, it may be modified.
SECTION 6. When Final Injunction Granted. – If after the trial of the action it appears that the applicant is entitled to have the act or acts complained of permanently enjoined, the Hearing Officer shall grant a final injunction perpetually restraining the party or person enjoined from further commission of the act or acts or confirming the preliminary mandatory injunction.
RULE 6
Contempt
SECTION 1. Direct Contempt Punished Summarily. – A person guilty of misbehavior in the presence of or so near the Director or Hearing Officer as to obstruct or interrupt the proceedings before him, including disrespect toward the Director or Hearing Officer, offensive personalities toward others, or refusal to be sworn to or answer as a witness, or to subscribe to an affidavit or deposition when lawfully required to do so, may be summarily adjudged in contempt by the Director or Hearing Officer and punished by fine not exceeding Two Thousand Pesos (P2,000.00) or imprisonment not exceeding ten (10) days, or both.
SECTION 2. Indirect Contempt to be Punished After Charge and Hearing. – After a charge in writing has been filed, and an opportunity given to the respondent to be heard by himself or counsel, a person guilty of any of the following acts may be punished for contempt by the Director:
(a) Disobedience of or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order, judgment, or command of the Hearing Officer, or injunction granted by him;
(b) Any abuse of or unlawful interference with the process or proceedings of the Bureau, not constituting direct contempt under Section 1 of this Rule;
(c) Any improper conduct tending, directly or indirectly, to impede, obstruct, or degrade the administration of justice or the performance of the Bureau’s proper function;
(d) Failure to obey a subpoena duly served;
(e) The rescue, or attempted rescue; of a person or property in the custody of an officer by virtue of an order or process of a court held by him; or
(f) The submission of a false certification, without prejudice to the filing of the appropriate civil and/or criminal action, or non-compliance with any undertaking regarding commencement of actions.
But nothing in this section shall be so construed as to prevent the Director from issuing process to bring the respondent party into or before the Bureau, or from holding him in custody pending such proceedings.
SECTION 3. Contempt Proceedings – Proceedings for indirect contempt may be initiated motu proprio by the Bureau by an order or any other formal charge requiring the respondent to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt. In all other cases, charges for indirect contempt shall be commenced by a verified petition with supporting particulars and certified true copies of documents or papers involved therein, and upon full compliance with the requirements for filing initiatory pleadings for civil actions. If the contempt charges arose out of or are related to principal action pending in the Bureau, the petition shall be docketed, heard, and decided separately, unless the Bureau in its discretion orders the consolidation of the contempt charge and the principal action for joint hearing and decision.
SECTION 4. Hearing; Release on Bail. – If the hearing is not ordered to be had forthwith the respondent may be released from custody upon filing a bond, in an amount fixed by the Director, or Hearing Officer, for his appearance to answer the charge. On the day set for the hearing, the Director or Hearing Officer shall proceed to investigate the charge and consider such answer or testimony as the respondent may make or offer.
SECTION 5. Punishment for Indirect Contempt. – If the respondent is thereupon adjudged guilty of indirect contempt committed, he may be punished by a fine not exceeding Thirty Thousand Pesos (P30,000.00) or imprisonment of not more than six (6) months, or both, and if the contempt consists in the violation of an injunction, he may also be ordered to make a complete restitution to the party injured by such violation.
SECTION 6. Imprisonment Until Order Obeyed. – When the contempt consists in the omission to do an act which is yet in the power of the respondent to perform, he may be imprisoned by order of the Hearing Officer until he performs it.
SECTION 7. Proceedings When Party Released on Bail Fails to Answer. – When a respondent released on bail fails to appear on the date fixed for the hearing, the Hearing Officer may issue another order of arrest or may order the bond for his appearance to be prosecuted, or both; and, if the bond be prosecuted, the measure of damages shall be the extent of the loss or injury sustained by the aggrieved party by reason of the misconduct for which the contempt was prosecuted, and the costs of the proceedings, and such recovery shall be for the benefit of the party injured. But if there is no aggrieved party, the bond shall be liable and disposed of as in criminal cases.
SECTION 8. Hearing Officer May Release Respondent. – The Director or the Hearing Officer may discharge from imprisonment a person imprisoned for contempt when it appears that public interest will not suffer thereby.
SECTION 9. Review of Judgment or Order by the Director. – The judgment or order of the Hearing Officer made in a case of direct contempt punished after written charge and hearing may be reviewed by the Director, but execution of the judgment or order shall not be suspended until a bond is filed by the person in contempt, in an amount fixed by the Hearing Officer conditioned that if the appeal be decided against him he will abide by and perform the judgment or order.
