This case concerns the operation of a ferry  service by means of  motor boats  across the  Cagayan  river, in  the province of that name, between the municipality of Aparri on the west bank of that river and the municipality of Calamaniugan  on the opposite  bank.

For the operation of such ferry  service two applications were filed with the  Public  Service  Commission: one by Ponciano P. Carillo who proposed  to operate between  the barrio of Mabangug, in the municipality of Aparri, and the  barrio  of  Alinunu,  in the  municipality of  Camalaniugan, and the other by Balbino  Remigio, who proposed to operate between the same barrio of Mabangug, Aparri, and  the barrio of Catotoran, in the municipality of Camalaniugan.   The purpose of both ferries is to bridge a gap in a national land highway where it  is interrupted by a body of water.

Both applications  were opposed by  Alfonso Cababa, an operator of a  ferry service  across the same river but between  two barrios of  the  same  municipality, namely, the barrios of Catotoran and Calaoagan, both in the municipality of Camalaniugan.   The oppositor had a certificate of public convenience from the Public Service Commission and  a contract with the  said municipality for the operation of that ferry.

Alleging that the applications of Carrilo  and Remigio had  already  been disapproved by  the  municipal  council of Camalaniugan, the oppositor also  moved for the dismissal of those applications on the  theory that the Public Service Commission had no  jurisdiction  to grant  them without the previous approval  of the municipalities  concerned.

The Commission denied the  motion after hearing applicant's evidence on  the  merits.  But the  proceedings were  interrupted because, upon a new date being set for the continuation  of the  hearing, the oppositor came  to this Court with  the present  petition for  certiorari and prohibition to have us annul the order denying his motion to dismiss and also to have the Commission  desist from further hearing the applications for lack of jurisdiction.

We find the petition to be without  merit.

In contending that the Commission has  no jurisdiction to entertain  applications for the  operation  of  a  ferry without the said  applications being first approved by the municipalities concerned, petitioner relies upon our decision in the cases of Municipality of Gattaran vs. Doroteo Elizaga, 91   Phil.  440,   and  Municipality  of   Gattaran   vs. Fruto  Elizaga, 91 Phil.  440,  where  we said  that  when a  private  party  obtains  a   permit   from   the   municipal  council for  the  operation  of a  municipal ferry, he must, before he can operate, "first obtain a certificate or permit from the Public Service Commission", but that the Commission had no power to consider and grant the applications in those two cases without previous municipal approval, "for the reason that the ferries in question were within the  territorial  jurisdiction  of the  municipality." The cases  cited are authority for  holding that where a ferry lies entirely  within  the territorial jurisdiction of a municipality,  previous approval of that municipality  is necessary before the Public Service Commission can grant a private operator a certificate of public convenience for its  operation; but  they cannot be invoked as a precedent for the case now before us where  the  ferry service proposed is between two municipalities and serves as a continuation, by  watercraft, of a national  highway.  If local authorization  were needed for  the operation of such a ferry  service, that  authorization should  more properly come from the provincial board since there are two municipalities involved.   And we note that the  provincial board of  Cagayan has,  as a matter of fact, already declared itself in favor of allowing the proposed ferry service, since it has, by  resolution,  taken  note  of the inadequacy of the existing service and  expressed  the  belief that  service would  be improved with the allowance of new operators, and it has  also ordered  a copy of the resolution sent to the  Public  Service Commission "for its  consideration in determining cases  now pending before said Commission for the authority  to operate  said service."

Not being a municipal ferry and impressed as it  is with the character of a national  highway on  one  side of  the river and its  continuation on the opposite side, the ferry proposed by each  of the respondent applicants, or rather the  authority for  its  operation as a public  service does not need municipal approval before it can be granted by the  Public Service  Commission.

In view  of the  foregoing, the petition  for certiorari and prohibition is  dismissed,  with  costs  against  the petitioner.

Paras, C.  J., Bengzon,  Padilla,  Montemayor, Bautista Angelo,  Labrador,  Concepcion, Reyes, J.  B, L.,  Endencia, and Felix, JJ., concur.