For having been filed beyond the reglementary period and serious procedural infirmities, the Regional Trial Court has dismissed the petition for mandamus filed by several former job order workers of the San Andres municipal government trying to claim their unpaid wages.
In a ruling issued August 4, 2026, RTC Branch 42 Presiding Judge Irwin L. Peña said the petition for mandamus and damages with preliminary mandatory injunction and/or writ of mandamus, and with prayer for contempt of court filed by Dante C. Santelices, Teresita C. Araojo, Ariel R. Buhayo, Rex S. Soner, Raul S. Clavo, Kevin A. Sabido, Lemril R. Camacho, and Jeoffrey D. Aldave, et.al., deserved outright dismissal for having been filed beyond the 60-day period prescribed under the Rules of Court.
The petitioners had taken to court Mayor Aly T. Romano, former Mayor Gregorio S. Salvador, Vice Mayor Felix G. Romero Jr., Sangguniang Bayan Members Kevin S. Sernatinger, Joal C. Cocjin, Alan S. del Valle, Andrew P. Facundo, Susan M. Flores, Honesto V. Lumabi, and Cassandra M. de Loyola, as well as Administrative Officer V Debbie S. Joson, and Peso Manager Kim Christian V. Nazareno, seeking to compel them to process and pay their alleged unpaid salaries and wages.
It may be recalled that before the new set of LGU officials took office on June 30, 2025, former Mayor Leo Z. Mendoza requested the LGU to pay 85 job-order workers who were terminated a month earlier their wages amounting to over P1.2 million.
However, then Mayor Salvador, who took over after the Ombudman dismissed Mendoza from his post, stated that the request could not be granted due to lack of funds and the fact that the job order contracts for the workers were not yet perfected at the time they were terminated.
Mendoza claimed that the 85 JO workers had already rendered their services to the local government unit in various capacities from April 1 to May 15, 2025 and that their termination deprived them of their wages for the period to their injury and prejudice.
Alleging that there were savings of more than P8 million at the time, he attached a list of the affected job order workers, including 13 individuals who were supposed to receive wages of more than P20,000 for the said period/
Among them were a legal consultant, Albay-based Atty. Peter Leo M. Ralla (P860 per day), Architect Liway S. Degsi (P810 per day), sculptor Severiano Pamplona (P810 per day), four drivers who were paid between P620 to P635 per day, four security personnel who received P550 to P620 daily, and one individual whose job description was not indicated but earned P550 per day.
The list likewise included a chief of staff, two sculptor helpers, a consultant-cum-Metro Manila liaison officer, a consultant on international and national issues, and two individuals supposedly handling affairs of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), Vice Mayors League (VML) and Philippine Councilors League (PCL).
The majority consisted of utility workers, administrative aides, office aides, street sweepers, traffic enforcers, and workers assigned to the Agojo fish sanctuary, who were paid P405 per day.
In brushing aside the petition, the Court noted that aside from the late filing of the original petition, the petitioners also failed to disclose in their Verification and Certification Against Forum Shopping that there was already a prior action involving the same parties and the same cause of action.
It also observed that the amended petition did not include the required verification and certification against forum shopping.
“With the foregoing procedural infirmities, the Court need not pass upon the substantive merits of petitioners’ claims,” Judge Peña stressed.