Republic of the Philippines

National Capital Judicial Region

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch 86, Manila

NATIONAL SUPPLIES AUTHORITY

and NATIONAL TRUCKING
CORPORATION,
Plaintiffs,

- versus - Civil Case No. 62709

ALLIED SHIPPING CORPORATION,

Defendant.

X-----------------------------------------------------x

DECISION

Plaintiffs National Supplies Authority (NSA) and National

Trucking Corporation (NTC) filed an action for damages against Allied
Shipping Corporation (Allied Shipping) for the alleged breach of
contract of carriage by its failure to deliver to NSAs consignee,
Hassan Salim of NTC, the ordered powdered milk. Allied Shipping
denied the claim and alleged that NSAs consignee received the
delivery of said shipment.

The Facts

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 From the evidence adduced by the parties during trial, it was
established that NSA and CARE Philippines entered into an
agreement to undertake continuous Food Assistance Programs and a
joint nutrition project for preschool children and pregnant and nursing
mothers. As such, CARE bound itself to acquire donations from the
United States Government, food commodities like non-fat dried milk
and other USDA foods, from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2004.

Due to the agreement, NSA engaged the services of NTC to

receive and store the commodities, including transshipments and
deliveries to various beneficiaries directed by the Department of
Health (DOH).

DOH issued several delivery orders for shipment of non-fat

dried milk to various Municipal Health Offices (MHO).

Accordingly, NSA shipped 5, 824 bags of the non-fat powdered milk

to its consignee Salim of NTC Zamboanga through the vessels of
Allied Shipping that issued bills of lading for NTC.

Evidence for the Plaintiffs

Plaintiffs presented as first witness, NSAs Manager for Relief

Operations, Vicente Tuason, who testified that his department hired
Allied Shipping to ship the ordered non-fat powdered milk. He also
declared that NSA sent the bill of lading to its consignee, Salim of
NTC. Further, Tuason stated that since NTC still possessed the
consignees copy of the bill of lading, Salim did not receive the
shipment. However, Salim gave no explanation of why he returned
the bill of lading to NSA.

NSA and NTCs only other witness was Atty. Gregorio Lantana,
NTCs claims insurance manager. He investigated Allied Shipping
due to the loss of 5, 824 bags of non-fat dried milk. His findings were:

1. Salim denied receiving the shipment and returned the

original copies of the bill of lading.

2. Allied Shippings checker revealed that Salim already

withdrew the goods and could only produce Xerox copies of signed
cargo delivery receipts but could not definitively attest that Salim
indeed signed the receipts.

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 3. Salim sent in his resignation by proxy after being
reinvestigated by Lantana.

Lantana then prepared and sent a claims letter to Allied

Shipping. Allied Shippings Claims Department Head, Artemio Carpio,
sent two (2) reply letters denying NTCs claim for damages.

NTC then referred the claim to the Office of the Government

Corporate Counsel (OGCC) who filed this case.

CARE also prepared a report of Loss and Damage which it

addressed to NTC. Even though CAREs valuation of the loss was
unclear, NTC still paid out to CARE the total amount of
Php 2, 257, 141. 64.

Evidence for the Defendant

Allied Shipping presented three (3) witnesses. The first witness,

Ricardo Samson, delivery checker for Allied Shipping, testified that he
made deliveries to Salim from October to December 2003. He had
copies of the cargo delivery receipts from that period as proof of the
deliveries.

He also declared that there were two (2) authorized

representatives from NTC allowed to withdraw shipments. One was
Salim, and the other was Lito Asis, Salims assistant manager.

Samson further stated that he was familiar with the signatures

of both Salim and Asis. However, he disclosed that some of the
signatures that appeared on the delivery receipts within that period,
were unknown to him.

The next witness, Ismael Zamora was delivery and release

checker of Jose Razon Trucking hired to deliver NTCs cargoes from
the port to NTCs warehouse. He testified that he made deliveries of
non-fat dried milk to Salim from October 2003 to January 2004.

Zamora also declared that the deliveries were all personally

received by Salim but he did not always sign for it since he left for his
other appointments. His subordinates signed for some of the
deliveries: Asis and NTCs head checker, Armand Lara.

The third witness, Atty. Ariel Luna, Corporate Secretary and

Administrative Head of Allied Shipping, testified that he sent a reply-
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letter to NTC regarding the missing 5, 824 bags of powdered milk. He
stated that Carpio conducted an investigation then sent another letter
to NTC informing them that 5, 824 bags of powdered milk had indeed
been released to Salim, as evidenced by cargo delivery receipts and
container list.

Allied Shipping then received a letter from a Helen Jacinto,

NTCs Domestic Freight Forwarding Operations Manager, that Salim
had resigned and had no authority to represent NTC.

Luna also testified that he prepared a summary of expenses

incurred by NTC with supporting documents.

The Issues

The main issue in this case was whether Allied Shipping

delivered the cargo of powdered milk to consignee NTC, specifically
Salim. And if yes, then the subsequent question of whether Allied
Shipping was entitled to recover damages from NSA and NTC under
its counterclaim.

Discussion

It appeared that while Salim was the consignee named in all the
bills of lading and while he personally attended the individual
shipments to NTC but there were times when he delegated and
authorized his subordinates in his stead. Samson and Zamora
attested to Salims presence during deliveries. NTC and NSA never
rebutted these and failed to present Salim to deny the allegations.
Hence, delivery of the commodities in question by Allied Shipping to
NTC was established.

It was of note that Lantana, the second witness for the plaintiff
testified that on February 2, 2001, the day before Salims resignation
he spoke to Salim about the missing cargoes and that the latter was
reluctant to answer. After February 3, 2001, Lantana never saw Salim
again. Salims avoidance of further investigation and his resignation
from NTC were evidence of his guilt.

Furthermore, Salim should not have been allowed to resign and

administrative charges should have been filed against him. He could
also have been included as a party defendant in the case so that the
plaintiffs could have recovered damages from him.

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 Considering the defendants unrebutted evidence on delivery of
goods, the plaintiffs failed to prove their cause of action by clear
preponderance of evidence. Hence, their complaint must be
dismissed. The defendants counter-claim was justified.

WHEREFORE, judgment is rendered in favor of the defendant,

plaintiffs complaint is dismissed and ordered to pay jointly and
solidarily, Php 50, 000.00 for actual damages and Php 70, 000.00 for
attorneys fees plus costs of suit.

SO ORDERED.

Manila, May 14, 2008.

(Name Omitted)
Judge

March 11, 2017

Exercise: Writing a Decision
By:
16-07333
First year Set B