G.R. No. 178799 - FIRST UNITED CONSTRUCTORS CORPORATION, VS. PORO POINT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION (PPMC), THE SPECIAL BIDS & AWARDS COMMITTEE (SBAC) OF PPMC, ATTY. FELIX S. RACADIO, AND SATRAP CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC..D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE , in view of the foregoing, the PROTEST filed by FUCC which is under consideration is hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit. The FILING FEE paid by FUCC, the protestant, via Metro Bank Cashier's Check No. 0600018513, dated March 19, 2007, in the amount of Four Million Seven Hundred Twenty-One Thousand Pesos (P4,721,000.00), Philippine Currency, which is equivalent to one [percent] (%) of the ABC being NON-REFUNDABLE (Sec. 55.1, IRR-A, RA 1984), the same is hereby ordered FORFEITED in favor of PPMC . SO ORDERED . [6] SBAC then scheduled a re-bidding and issued new invitations to bid for the project. To enjoin the re-bidding set on May 8, 2007, FUCC filed a petition for injunction with prayer for the issuance of a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order (TRO) with the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of La Union, docketed as Civil Case No. 7274. On May 2, 2007, the RTC issued a TRO which, however, was lifted on May 4, 2007 because under Section 3 of Republic Act No. 8975, [7] no court, except the Supreme Court, shall issue a TRO or injunction or prohibit the bidding or award of a government infrastructure project. SBAC thus proceeded with the re-bidding of the project on May 8, 2007 and awarded the project to SCCI as the lowest qualified bidder. [8] The Contract [9] for the project was signed, and a notice to proceed [10] was served on SCCI on May 29, 2007. FUCC filed an amended petition with the RTC to enjoin the implementation of the project. The Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) moved to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction. Pending resolution of OGCC's motion to dismiss, FUCC moved for the dismissal of its amended petition, which was granted by the RTC on July 4, 2007, to wit: Acting on the above-stated notice of dismissal, this Court hereby confirms the dismissal of the amended petition, in effect the dismissal of the whole action, without prejudice, pursuant to Sec. 1, Rule 17 of the Rules of Court. WHEREFORE, this case is hereby DISMISSED. SO ORDERED.