Back

IEMELIF vs. Lazaro [DECISION]

IGLESIA EVANGELICA METODISTA EN LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS (IEMELIF) (Corporation Sole), INC., REV. NESTOR PINEDA, REV. ROBERTO BACANI, BENJAMIN BORLONGAN, JR., DANILO SAUR, RICHARD PONTI, ALFREDO MATABANG and all the other members of the IEMELIF TONDO CONGREGATION of the IEMELIF CORPORATION SOLE, Petitioners, versus BISHOP NATHANAEL LAZARO, REVERENDS HONORIO RIVERA, DANIEL MADUCDOC, FERDINAND MERCADO, ARCADIO CABILDO, DOMINGO GONZALES, ARTURO LAPUZ, ADORABLE MANGALINDAN, DANIEL VICTORIA and DAKILA CRUZ, and LAY LEADER LINGKOD MADUCDOC and CESAR DOMINGO, acting individually and as members of the Supreme Consistory of Elders and those claiming under the Corporation Aggregate, Respondents.

G.R. No. 184088 | 2010-07-06

D E C I S I O N
 
ABAD, J.:
 
The present dispute resolves the issue of whether or not a corporation may change its character as a corporation sole into a corporation aggregate by mere amendment of its articles of incorporation without first going through the process of dissolution.
 
 
The Facts and the Case

In 1909, Bishop Nicolas Zamora established the petitioner Iglesia Evangelica Metodista En Las Islas Filipinas, Inc. (IEMELIF) as a corporation sole with Bishop Zamora acting as its "General Superintendent."  Thirty-nine years later in 1948, the IEMELIF enacted and registered a by-laws that established a...