"x x x.
The issue of indirect contempt needs further discussion because while the Order of the RTC to allow audit of books of HEVRI has been rendered moot, it does not change the fact that at the time that the Order was a standing pronouncement, petitioners refused to heed it. Section 3, paragraph (b), Rule 71 of the Rules of Court provides:
Sec. 3. Indirect contempt to be punished after charge and hearing. – After a charge in writing has been filed, and an opportunity given to the respondent to comment thereon within such period as may be fixed by the court and to be heard by himself or counsel, a person guilty of any of the following acts may be punished for indirect contempt:
x x x x
(b) Disobedience of or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order or judgment of a court, x x x.
Contempt of court is defined as a disobedience to the Court by acting in opposition to its authority, justice and dignity. It signifies not only a willful disregard or disobedience of the court’s orders, but such conduct which tends to bring the authority of the court and the administration of law into disrepute or in some manner to impede the due administration of justice. Contempt of court is a defiance of the authority, justice or dignity of the court; such conduct as tends to bring the authority and administration of the law into disrespect or to interfere with or prejudice parties-litigant or their witnesses during litigation.[18] The asseverations made by petitioners to justify their refusal to allow inspection or audit were rejected by the trial court.
It may be noted that a person may be charged with indirect contempt by either of two alternative ways, namely: (1) by a verified petition, if initiated by a party; or (2) by an order or any other formal charge requiring the respondent to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt, if made by a court against which the contempt is committed. In short, a charge of indirect contempt must be initiated through a verified petition, unless the charge is directly made by the court against which the contemptuous act is committed.[19]
The RTC initiated the contempt charge. In the Order[20] dated 9 January 2002, petitioners were directed to appear in court and to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court for their refusal to allow Financial Catalyst, Inc. to audit the books of HEVRI. Petitioners filed an urgent motion for reconsideration claiming that said order was the subject of a pending petition before the Court of Appeals and that they can only be cited for contempt by the filing of a verified petition. The RTC denied the motion and reiterated in its Order on 26 April 2002 explaining that it chose to initiate the contempt charge.
The RTC acted on the basis of the unjustified refusal of petitioners to abide by its lawful order. It is of no moment that private respondents may have filed several pleadings to urge the RTC to cite petitioners in contempt. Petitioners utterly violated an order issued by the trial court which act is considered contemptuous. Thus, in Leonidas v. Judge Supnet,[21] the MTC’s order to the bank to show cause why it should not be held in contempt, was adjudged as a legitimate exercise of the MTC’s judicial discretion to determine whether the bank should be sanctioned for disregarding its previous orders. Independently of the motions filed by the opposing party, it was the MTC which commenced the contempt proceedings motu proprio. No verified petition is required if proceedings for indirect contempt are initiated in this manner, and the absence of a verified petition does not affect the procedure adopted.[22]
The RTC’s issuance of a warrant of arrest was pursuant to Section 8, Rule 71 of the Rules of Court, which reads:
Sec. 8. Imprisonment until order obeyed. - When the contempt consists in the refusal or omission to do an act which is yet in the power of the respondent to perform, he may be imprisoned by order of the court concerned until he performs it.
However, the foregoing notwithstanding, the warrant and the contempt proceedings that preceded it were all similarly mooted by the dismissal of the main petition for dissolution of HEVRI. Given the mootness of the issues of inspection and audit, the very orders refused to be obeyed by petitioners, the citation of contempt and its consequences necessarily became moot.
x x x."
