Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Motion To Dismiss
Motion To Dismiss
MOTION TO DISMISS
COMES NOW the Respondent, DAMING UTANG INC., through the undersigned
counsel, appearing especially and solely for this purpose, and to this Honorable Court, most
respectfully moves for the dismissal of the Complaint on the following ground that THE
HONORABLE COURT HAS NOT ACQUIRED JURISDICTION OVER THE PERSON OF
THE DEFENDING PARTY.
DISCUSSION
A cursory reading of the Summons and Return of Service would readily show that the
copies of the Summons dated 01 November 2016 and the Complaint and its corresponding
annexes were allegedly delivered and tendered upon the Movant DAMING UTANG INC.
through a certain Maria B. Walangkinalaman alleged to be the authorized personnel of Movant
DAMING UTANG INC., Iligan City on 26 October 2016. Copies of the said Summons and
Return of Service that form part of the records on the case are hereto pleaded as integral part of
this Motion;
Said service of Summons, however, constitutes an improper service of summons
amounting to lack of jurisdiction over the person of the herein Movant Corporation DAMING
UTANG INC. since the summons was improperly served upon a person who is not one of those
persons named or enumerated in Section 11, Rule 14 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure upon
whom service of summons shall be made;
The material provision on the service of summons provided for in Section 11 of Rule 14
of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure reads as follows:
"Section 11. Service upon domestic private juridical entity.- When the
defendant is a corporation, partnership or association organized under the laws of
the Philippines with a juridical personality, service may be made on the president,
managing partner, general manager, corporate secretary, treasurer, or in-house
counsel." (underscoring ours)
It bears no further emphasis that the service of the summons was done on a person who is
not included in the exclusive enumeration provided for under the said Section, as service was
done only on an alleged authorized personnel of the Movant Corporation;
This new revision of the Rules of Court for the service of summon is a clear departure
from the old rule as stated in Section 13, Rule 14 of the Rules of Court which provided that:
"SECTION 13. Service upon private domestic corporation or partnership.
- If the defendant is a corporation organized under the laws of the Philippines or a