Judgment on the merits

As the dismissal of G.R. No. 74302 was without prejudice, it was not a judgment on the merits. A judgment on the merits is one rendered after a determination of which party is right, as distinguished from a judgment rendered upon some preliminary or formal or merely technical point. The dismissal of the case without prejudice indicates the absence of a decision on the merits and leaves the parties free to litigate the matter in a subsequent action as though the dismissed action had not been commenced. In other words, the discontinuance of a case not on the merits does not bar another action on the same subject matter (Presidential Commission on Good Government Vs. Sandiganbayan (Second Division), et al., G.R. No. 152500. September 14, 2011).