Okada Manila Case: Supreme Court upholds effectivity of status quo ante order

Asks Court of Appeals to submit additional evidence from opposing parties

The Supreme Court of the Philippines has upheld the validity of the Status Quo Ante Order that it issued last April 27, 2022 reinstating Kazuo Okada as CEO and Chairman of Okada even as the ousted group Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment Inc. filed a Motion for Reconsideration questioning its validity.

In its recent resolution, the SC has remanded to the Court of Appeals the task of receiving additional evidence from the opposing parties to support their claims and defense on the issuance of the SQAO.

The Supreme Court has stressed that the SQAO, an extraordinary relief based on “equitable consideration, must be strictly based on the language of the order and in the context of the nature of an SQAO, i.e., to restore the parties to the last actual, peaceable and uncontested state of things that preceded the controversy”.

The SC is also clear and categorical that the issuance of the SQAO “was in accordance with law and jurisprudence”.

For his part, Kazuo Okada stated that his group is prepared to go to the CA to present their evidence in order to maintain the integrity of the SQAO and to further strengthen his position as controlling entity of Okada Manila. Antonio Cojuangco on his part welcomes the recent legal developments as it would give them a chance to further the cause that they have been fighting for all this time.

The Supreme Court in its resolution has affirmed that “pending the reception of evidence and submission of the report and recommendation (by the CA), the Status Quo Ante Order subsists”.

The SC has also directed the concerned Division of the Court of Appeals, where the Justice to whom the case was raffled, to “conduct continuous hearings on the reception of evidence and recommendations within an inextendible period of 30 days from receipt of the Resolution”.