Effect of lack of subject matter jurisdiction

A court can render a valid judgment only if it has jurisdiction over the subject matter of a case. If it has no subject matter jurisdiction, it must dismiss the case because any decision that it renders will be void.

It will be a waste of time and resources if the court continues with the case and renders a decision which, at the end of the day, will be void.

Explaining the effects of lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the Supreme Court stated:

It should be stressed that the court a quo's lack of subject matter jurisdiction over the case renders it without authority and necessarily obviates the resolution of the merits of the case. To reiterate, when a court has no jurisdiction over the subject matter, the only power it has is to dismiss the action, as any act it performs without jurisdiction is null and void, and without any binding legal effects. (Bernadette S. Bilag ,et al vs. Estela Ay-ay, et al,  G.R. No. 189950, April 24, 2017).