Republic of the Philippines

SUPREME COURT
MANILA

THIRD DIVISION

GR No. L33722, 29 JULY, 1988

FEDERICO YLARDE and ADELAIDA DORONIO petitioners,
vs.
EDGARDO AQUINO, MAURO SORIANO and COURT OF APPEALS, respondents

FACTS:
Private respondent Mariano Soriano was the principal of the Gabaldon Primary School in
Pangasinan. Defendant Edgardo Aquino was a teacher therein. During that time, the school had several
concrete blocks which were remnants of the old school shop destroyed in World War II. Defendant decided to
help clear the area so he gathered 18 of his male students and ordered them to dig beside a one ton concrete
block in making a hole where the stone can be buried. It was left unfinished so the following day he called 4 of
the 18 students including the Novelito Ylarde to complete the excavation. Defendant left the children to level
the loose soil while he went to see Banez for the key to the school workroom where he can get some rope. It
was alleged that before leaving, he told the children “not to touch the stone”. After he left, the children playfully
jumped into the pit when suddenly the concrete block slide down. Unfortunately, Novelito Ylarde was pinned to
the wall causing serious physical injuries which as a consequence led to his death, 3 days thereafter. The
parents of the victim, herein petitioners, filed a suit for damages against both Aquino and Soriano.

ISSUE:
Whether Soriano and Aquino can be held liable for damages.

HELD:
YES both Soriano and Aquino can be held liable for damages under Articles 2176 and 2180 of the Civil
Code.

As held in Amadora vs CA, “it is only the teacher and not the head of an academic school who should be
answerable for torts committed by their students”. Where the school is academic rather than technical or
vocational in nature, responsibility for the tort committed by the student will attach to the teacher in charge of
such student, this is the general rule. However, in case of establishments of arts and trades, it is the head
thereof, and only he, who shall be held liable as an exception to the general rule. In other words, teachers in
general shall be liable for the acts of their students except where the school is technical in nature, in which
case it is the head thereof who shall be answerable. Hence, Soriano as principal cannot be held liable for the
reason that the school he heads is an academic school and he did not give any instruction regarding the
digging.

A teacher who stands in loco parentis to his students should make sure that the children are protected from all
harm. The excavation instructed clearly exposed the students to risk and should not be placed under the
category of Work Education such as school gardening, planting trees etc. Aquino acted with fault and gross
negligence where instead of availing himself of adult manual laborers he instead utilized his
students. Furthermore, the warning given is not sufficient to cast away all serious danger that the concrete
block adjacent to the excavation would present to the children. He is therefore ordered to pay damages to the
petitioners.