Philracom barred from enforcing 53 resolutions
The Metro Manila Turf Club Inc. (MMTCI) announced that the Regional Trial Court in Mandaluyong has granted its application for a writ of preliminary injunction to stop the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) from implementing various resolutions that MMTCI challenged as invalid and illegal.
The court granted the injunction sought by MMTCI after it “found clear and unmistakable right…to restrain the respondents from continued and threatened implementation of the 53 Resolutions.”
The court added that based on the evidence so far submitted, the issuance and implementation of the 53 resolutions amount to a “material and substantial invasion of pe-titioner’s rights since the aforementioned resolutions touch upon and interfere with almost every aspect of petitioner’s business operations, which may cause grave and irreparable injury to the latter through the suffering of immense losses to the brink of financial failure.”
The court even cited several court decisions in granting MMTCI application for a preliminary injunction to stop the respondents “and other officers, employees, agents, representatives and all those acting on their behalf from implementing the 53 Resolutions that were issued in 2015 and 2016.”
MMTCI, which operates the country’s third and latest horse-racing track, known as Metro Turf, in Malvar-Tanauan, Batangas, earlier applied for an injunction against the said 53 Resolutions that were issued by the Philracom—led by its Chairman Andrew Sanchez—since “it [Philracom] is not authorized to impose penalties under administrative regulations.”
Among the respondents in the P22-million damage suit filed by MMTCI were Philracom Commissioners Lyndon Noel B. Guce, Victor Tantoco, Jose P. Gutierrez Santillan Jr., Bienvenido Niles Jr., Wilfredo J. A. Ungria, Ramon Bagatsing Jr. and Executive Director Andrew M. Buencamino.
These 53 Resolutions, according to MMTCI, “along with the administrative regulations that respondents [Philracom] continue to issue and implement this year, have virtually stripped it of any real control over its business affairs and making it little more than an agent of Philracom’s whims and caprices.”
As a result, the revenue from the racing industry further declined from P8.22 billion in 2014 to P7.71 billion in 2015, which represented a P516-million loss, which MMTCI blamed on the unilateral and illegal actions of the Philracom.
