TELOWORKS PHILIPPINES INCORPORATED v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES COURT OF TAX APPEALS QUEZON CITY SECOND DIVISION ********* TELOWORKS PHILIPPINES CTA Case No. 10178 INCORPORATED, Memb ers: Petitioner, UY, Chairperson, BACORRO-VI LLENA, and -versus- CUI-DAVID, JJ. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL Promulgated: REVENUE, AUG 'l ~ 2fJ'12 Respondent. X- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - RESOLUTION For resolution is petitioner's Motion to Withdra w Petition (With Motion to Cancel Hearings) filed on December 14, 2021 . In its Motion, petitioner avers, among others, that after a thorough evaluation and analysis of the current status of the instant case and other related circumstances, petitioner is no longer interested in pursuing it and has decided to ask for the Court's approval for its dismissal. Thus, petitioner prays for the following : a) the dismissal of the Petition for Review, and the closure and termination of the instant case; b) The cancellation of the forthcoming Commissioner's Hearings and presentation of evidence for the instant case; and other reliefs just and equitable under the circumstances. In the Resolution dated December 17, 2021 , the Court ordered respondent to file his comment on petitioner's Motion to Withdraw Petition (with Motion to Cancel Hearings). On July 20, 2022, the Court received Records Verification Report issued by Records Officer Ill Jasmin L. Mejia, Clerk IV,

RESOLUTION CTA Case No. I0 178 Page 2 of3 Angelica V. Magpantay and noted by Supervising Judicial Staff Officer Florisa L. Tagalog , stating that respondent failed to file comment on petitioner's Motion to Withdraw Petition (with Motion to Cancel Hearings) despite receipt of the Resolution dated December 17, 2021 . The same is hereby NOTED. We resolve. Under Section 3, Rule 1 of the Revised Rules of the Court of Tax Appeals (RRCTA), the Rules of Court shall apply suppletorily to the RRCTA. Moreover, in Section 1, Rule 7 of the RRCTA, the procedures in the Court En Bane or in Division in original and in appealed cases shall be the same as those in petitions for review and appeals before the Court of Appeals. In this regard , Section 3, Rule 50 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure1 provides for the procedure for the withdrawal of appeals as follows: "RULE 50 DISMISSAL OF APPEAL xxxx Section 3. Withdrawal of appeal. -An appeal may be withdrawn as of right at any time before the filing of the appellee's brief. Thereafter, the withdrawal may be allowed in the discretion of the court ." Based on the foregoing , the granting of a Motion to Withdraw Appeal at this stage is addressed to the sound discretion of the Court. Since the instant case has not yet been submitted for decision and considering that respondent failed to file his comment on petitioner's Motion to Withdraw Petition within the given period, the Court is inclined to grant petitioner's Motion to Withdraw. As regards petitioner's Motion to Cancel Hearings, considering that the scheduled hearings were cancelled in the Resolution dated December 17, 2021 , the resolution thereof now becomes unnecessary and therefore moot. 1 Amended by A.M. No. I9- I0-20-SC or the 20 I9 Proposed Amendments to the I997 Ru les of Civil Procedure, effective May I, 2020.

RESOLUTION CTA Case No. 101 78 Page 3 of3 WHEREFORE , in light of the foregoing considerations, petitioner's Motion to Withdraw is hereby GRANTED. Accordingly, the Petition for Review is DISMISSED, and this case is hereby CLOSED and TERMINATED. Further, petitioner's Motion to Cancel Hearings is NOTED for being moot. SO ORDERED. ER~.UY Associate Justice ~ LAN~A~tvS,~ACAUAI-fiDnA1viD Associate Justice