4/15/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly For its part, litis pendentia "refers to that situation wherein another action is pending between the same parties for the same cause of action, such that the second action becomes unnecessary and vexatious." For litis pendentia to exist, three (3) requisites must concur: The requisites of litis pendentia are: (a) the identity of parties, or at least such as representing the same interests in both actions; (b) the identity of rights asserted and relief prayed for, the relief being founded on the same facts; and (c) the identity of the two cases such that judgment in one, regardless of which party is successful, would amount to res judicata in the other. On the other hand, res judicata or prior judgment bars a subsequent case when the following requisites are satisfied: (1) the former judgment is final; (2) it is rendered by a court having jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties; (3) it is a judgment or an order on the merits; (4) there is - between the first and the second actions - identity of parties, of subject matter, and of causes of action. (Emphasis in the original) These settled tests notwithstanding: Ultimately, what is truly important to consider in determining whether forum shopping exists or not is the vexation caused the courts and parties-litigant by a party who asks different courts and/or administrative agencies to rule on the same or related causes and/or to grant the same of substantially the same relicts, in the process creating the possibility of conflicting decisions being rendered by the different fora upon the same issue. (Citations omitted) By filing with the Panel a second motion for reconsideration in the guise of a Manifestation with Opposition, and without awaiting the result thereof, appealing before the CA, and thereafter filing once again with the Panel a Reiterative Motion, petition avers that respondents committed forum shopping. While the Court agrees with the petitioner that respondents' Manifestation with Opposition is in reality a second motion for reconsideration and its Reiterative Motion is another motion for reconsideration, as they both principally seek for the setting aside of the Decision of the Panel, there are good reasons which militate against the finding of forum shopping in this case. Ultimately, the primary consideration in the determination if forum shopping is obtaining in a case is whether the filing of the actions would result in the very evil the rule on forum shopping seeks to prevent, that is, the rendition of conflicting decision by https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66237 20/37