G.R. No.

L-5656 March 24, 1954

JUAN G. FELICIANO, ET AL., petitioners-appellants,
vs.
MARIANO ALIPIO, ET AL., respondents-appellee.
K.V. Faylona for appellants.
Office of the Solicitor General Juan R. Liwag and Solicitor Felix V. Maasiar for appellees.
JUGO, J.:
On September 21, 1951, the Director of Public Schools issued Circular o. 2!, series of 1951, "hich
reads as follo"s#
P$%&'C SC(OO& P$P'&S )D S*$D+*S ,)- %+ .+/$'.+D *O S)&$*+ *(+ 0&)1
!o "i#ision Superintendents$
1. /uoted in the inclosure to this Circular for the information and 2uidance of school officials
and teachers, is Opinion o. 34!, series of 1951, of the (onorable, the Secretar5 of 6ustice,
7re2ardin2 the po"er of the Director of Public Schools to re8uire all pupils and students in
public schools to salute the fla2, on pain of bein2 barred from admission to, or e9pelled from,
such schools.7
*his Circular revo:es Circular o. 33, series of 19;<.
=S2d.> %+'*O P)1'&')
"irector of %u&lic Schools
*he petitioners filed before the Court of 0irst 'nstance of *arlac a petition for declarator5 relief and
mandator5 in?unction, pra5in2 that the above circular be declared null and void, that preliminar5
in?unction be issued prohibitin2 the respondents ,ariano )lipio and other teachers of the ,alacampa
+lementar5 School, and the Director of Public Schools, from carr5in2 out the provisions of said
circular, and that, after trial, the preliminar5 in?unction be made permanent.
*he Provincial 0iscal of *arlac filed a motion to dismiss the petition on the 2round that under section
2, .ule @@, it "as not a case in "hich a declarator5 ?ud2ment could be rendered. *he court
dismissed the case. (ence, the petitioners have appealed to this Court.
't is not necessar5 to decide "hether the petition for declarator5 ?ud2ment be 2ranted in this case,
because in the petition presented in the court belo", in addition to the declarator5 ?ud2ment, the
petitioners pra5ed for the issuance of a permanent in?unction, "hich is e8uivalent to an action for
prohibition a2ainst public officers, and as such "e consider it, "ithout passin2 at this sta2e of the
proceedin2s on the merits of said action.
'n the present case, "e cannot consider the 8uestion as to the constitutionalit5 of the circular as this
"ill be decided after the re2ular hearin2.
'n vie" of the fore2oin2, the order of the court dismissin2 the petition is reversed, and the case
returned to the Court of 0irst 'nstance of *arlac for further proceedin2s as in an action for prohibition,
"ithout costs. So ordered.
%aras' (.J.' %a&lo' )eng*on' %adilla' Monte+ayor' Reyes' )autista ,ngelo' La&rador' (oncepcion
and "iono' JJ.' concur.