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OCA CIRCULAR NO. 42-2012

ALL EXECUTIVE /PRESID ING/ACT ING PRESID INGJUDGES AND CLERKS OF COURT/ACCOUNTABLEO F F I C E R S O F T H E F I R S T A N D SECOND LEVELCOURTS

SUBJECT : NON-EXEMPTION OF COOPERATIVES FROMT H E PAY M E N T O F L E G A L F E E S

In the Reso lu t i ( ) t l da ted March 13, 2012 i t l Admin is t ra t ive Mat ter(A.M.) No. 12-2-03-0 (]~e: In the Matter of Clarific.:lt ion of Exemption fromPayment of aU Court c~t~d Sheriffs Fees of Cooper~tives duly registered ina c c o r d a n c e w i t h R e p + L b t i c A c t N o . 9 5 2 0 , o t h < r w i s e k n o w n a s t h ePhi l ipp ine Coopera t ive , Code o f 2008) , the Hon+~rab le Cour t En Bancden ied t he pe t i t i on <~ f t he Pe rpe tua l He lp C+ ,mmun i t y Coope ra t i ve(PHCCI) to issue an older clar i fy ing and implem,.:~t ing the exemption ofcooperat ives from the payment of court and shet i !Ys fees, and declaredthat coopera t ives are t~o longer exempt f rom th~ payment o f the lega lfees provided for undcr Rule 141 of the Rules of C(~urt, to wit:

' I n a dec i s i on da ted 26 Feb rua ry 2010 i n Bagu ioMarket Mult i -Pt ~ rpose Cooperat ive (BAMA R VEMPCO) v.Cabato-Cortes (G. R. No. 165922, 26 Febr~:~ry 2010, 613S C R A 7 3 3 ) , t h i s C o u r t r e i t e r a t e d i t s r u l i ~ i n t h e G S I Scase when i t dc~ l ied the pet i t ion o f the co , ,pera t ive to beexempted from ~}~e payment of legal fees 1trader Section 7(c) o f Ru le 141 (~ f the Ru les o f Cour t re l~ t ive to fees inpetitions for extr+~-judicial foreclosure.

' O n 1 0 M ~ t r c h 2 0 1 0 , r e l y i n g a g a i ~ o n t h e G S I Sr u l i ng , t he Cou r~ En Banc i s sued a r eso l~ t i on c l a r i f y i ngthat the National Power Corporat ion is not ex~.mpt from thepayment o f leg~ l fees . ( In Re: Exempt ion + : / the Nat iona lPower Corporatio~l from the Payment of Filir~.//Docket Fees,A.M. No. 05-10-2(~-SC, 10 March 2010, 615 ~t~A 1)

'Wi th the lo rego ing ca tegor ica l p ron( )uncements o fthe Supreme Co~t r t , i t is evident that the exempt ion ofcooperat ives f rom payment of court and_sher i f fs feesno longer stands. Cooperat ives can no longer invokeRepublic Act No. 6938, as amended by Republic Act No.

9520, as basis for exemption from the l~ayment of legalfees.

'WHEREFORE, in the light of the fo:-:,going premises,the pet i t ion of PHCCI request ing for this C¢)urt to issue ano r d e r c l a r i f y i i 1 K a n d i m p l e m e n t i n g t h ( " e x e m p t i o n o fcooperatives fr~)m the payment of court a1~(t sheriffs fees ishereby DENIED" (Emphasis suppl ied)

I n v i ew o f t h ( " f o rego ing , t he gu ide l i nes se t f o r t h i n t he OCACi rcu la r No . 44 -2007 da ted May 3 , 2007 ( 1¢~ , : C la r i fi ca t i on on t heExemption of Cooper( l~ives from the Payment o/ aU Court and Sheri fpsFees) EXEMPTING the coopera t ives f rom the payment o f a l l cour t ands h e r i f f s f e e s p a y a l ) l c t o t h e P h i l i p p i n e G o v e r n m e n t f o r a n d i nconnec t i on w i t h a l l a c t i ons b rough t unde r Rep t~b l i c Ac t No . 6938 o rt h e C o o p e r a t i v e C o d e o f t h e P h i l i p p i n e s , o r w h e r e s u c h a c t i o n i sb rough t by t he Coope ra t i ve Deve lopmen t Au t l l o r i t y be fo re t he cou r t ,t o e n f o r c e t h e p a y m e n t o f o b l i g a t i o n s c o n t r a c t e d i n f a v o r o f t h ecooperat ive, is hereby REVOKED.

Hencefor th , a l l concerned are hereby DIRECTED to STRICTLYOBSERVE and IMPLEMENT the abovemen t i on~ ( l p ronouncemen ts o fthe Cour t on the no~-exempt ion o f coopera t ives f rom the payment o fl e g a l f e e s p r o v i d e d f o r u n d e r R u l e 1 4 1 o f t h e R u l e s o f C o u r t a n d ,a c c o r d i n g l y, t h e O C A C i r c u l a r N o . 4 4 - 2 0 0 7 d ' ~ t e d M a y 3 , 2 0 0 7 i shereby REVOKED.

This Circular shal l take effect immediately.

May 7, 2012

!

JeSE ~I IDAS P. MARQUEZN,~)Y~r t Administrator