Literature

Republic of the Philippines

SUPREME COURT

Manila

FIRST DIVISION

G.R. No. L-40570 January 30, 1976

TEODORO C. UMALI, petitioner, 

vs.

HON. ANGEL BACANI, in his capacity as Presiding Judge of Branch IX of the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan and FIDEL H. SAYNES, respondents.

Julia M. Armas for petitioner.

Antonio de los Reyes for private respondent.

ESGUERRA, J.:

Petition for certiorari to review the decision of the Court of First Instance of Pangasinan Branch IX, in Civil Case No. U2412, entitled, "Fidel H. Saynes, plaintiff-appellee versus Teodoro C. Umali, defendant-appellant", which found the death by electrocution of Manuel Saynes, a boy of 3 years and 8 months, as "due to the fault or negligence of the defendant (Umali) as owner and manager of the Alcala Electric Plant", although the liability of defendant is mitigated by the contributory negligence of the parents of the boy "in not providing for the proper and delegate supervision and control over their son The dispositive part of the decision reads as follows:

Wherefore, the Court hereby renders judgment in favor of the plaintiff by ordering the defendant to pay to the plaintiff the sum of Five Thousand Pesos (P5,000.00) for the death of his son, Manuel Saynes; the sum of One Thousand Two Hundred Pesos (P1,200.00) for actual expenses for and in connection with the burial of said deceased child, and the further sum of Three Thousand Pesos (P3,000.00) for moral damages and Five Hundred (P500.00) Pesos as reasonable attorney's fee, or a total of Nine Thousand Seven Hundred (P9,700.00) Pesos, and to pay the costs of this suit. It Is So Ordered.

Undisputed facts appearing of record are:

On May 14, 1972, a storm with strong rain hit the Municipality of Alcala Pangasinan, which started from 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon and lasted up to about midnight of the same day. During the storm, the banana plants standing on an elevated ground along the barrio road in San Pedro Ili of said municipality...