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CERTIFICATION AGAINST FORUM SHOPPING

Torres vs de Leon

G.R. No. 199440 January 18, 2016

J. Peralta

Alma de Leon, as Sec-Gen of Red Cross filed a memorandum charging Torres, the Chapter
Administrator of Gen San, with Grave Misconduct for violating Red Cross Financial Policies on
Oversubscription in the amount of P4.3M. De Leon issued Torres’ one month suspension after
investigating and denied Torres’ MR. Her appeal to the CSC was dismissed. Torres filed petition for
review under Rule 43 with the CA was dismissed. Before the SC, she assails, amongst others, that
the comment filed by de Leon before the CA is defective because it has no verification and
certification against forum shopping.

Issue: Whether the comment is defective?

No. The lack verification and a certificate of non-forum shopping, such is inconsequential because
a comment is not an initiatory pleading but a responsive pleading. The required certification
against forum shopping is intended to cover an "initiatory pleading," meaning an "incipient
application of a party asserting a claim for relief. A comment, required by an appellate tribunal,
to a petition filed with it is not a pleading but merely an expression of the views and observations
of the respondent for the purpose of giving the court sufficient information as to whether the
petition is legally proper as a remedy to the acts complained of.

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