Saint Theresa’s College seeks denial of motion to default

CEBU, Philippines - Citing lack of merit, the Saint Theresa’s College High School Department is seeking for the denial of the motion to declare defendants in default.

The case stemmed from the incident last March where five minor students of the said school were barred from attending their graduation rites for violation of school rules.

“The motion therefore is erroneous, or worse, is aimed at misleading the Honorable Court, therefore contemptuous. It can even be said that parents do not have the standing to file this motion, they being technically a non-party to this case,” the opposition reads.

Earlier, one of the parents of the minor filed a motion after the STC failed to file its answer to their complaint-in-intervention and to the amended complaint-in-intervention.

In their petition, however, STC cited that the motion filed by the plaintiff was “erroneous.”

The school averred that there was no intervention to be answered because of no admission from the court.

“There is no complaint-in-intervention and amended complaint-in-intervention to be answered because to date, there is no order admitting any of the petition or complaint filed by the proposed intervenors,” the opposition reads.

The school added that the issuance of the temporary restraining order by the first handling Judge Wilfredo Navarro was not a guarantee that their intervention was admitted.

“The amended complaint-in-intervention is also a legal anomaly, as the Regional Trial Court Branch 22 found. No motion was filed asking for leave to admit the amended complaint-in-intervention, it was simply appended into the records without any legal mooring,” the opposition further reads.

STC likewise said that there was nothing to admit after the main case was already “deemed withdrawn” by the original plaintiff.

STC and the original plaintiff entered into a compromise agreement. The plaintiff manifested that they will no longer pursue the case. As a result, the court approved the compromise agreement.

The civil case for damages was still pending before Judge Silvestre Maamo of Regional Trial Court Branch 17.

Last March, the minors were prohibited by the school to attend their graduation rites for violating school rules. Based on the school’s accounts, the minors posted “obscene” photos in their Facebook accounts, a social networking site.

They added that the pictures posted showed the students smoking in public, wearing skimpy outfits, including bikinis. — (FREEMAN)