8/12/2019 Rayo vs Cfi Bulacan

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RAYO vs. CFI BULACAN

Facts:

During the height of typhoon Kading, the respondent corporation acting through itsplant superintendent, Benjamin Chavez, opened simultaneously all the three

floodgates of the Angat Dam. As a direct and immediate result, several towns in

Bulacan where inundated and the hardest hit was Norzagaray. About a hundred of

its residents died and properties worth million of pesos were destroyed. The

petitioners, who were among the many unfortunate victims of the man-caused flood,

filed eleven complaints for damages against the National Power Corporation and the

plant superintendent of Angat Dam. The respondent corporation filed separate

answers to each of those eleven complaints and invoking in each answer a special

and affirmative defense that in the operation of the Angat Dam, it is performing a

purely governmental function, and it cannot be sued without the express consent of

the State. The petitioners opposed the prayer of the respondent for dismissal of thecase and contended that the respondent corporation is performing not

governmental but proprietary functions and that under its own organic act, it can

sue and be sued in court.

Issue:

Whether respondent National Power Corporation performs a governmental

function with respect to the management and operation of the Angat Dam; and

Whether the power of respondent National Power Corporation to sue and be sued

under its organic charter includes the power to be sued for tort.

Held:

The Government has organized a private corporation, put money in it and has

allowed it to sue and be sued in any court under its charter. The National Power

Corporation, a government owned and controlled corporation, has a personality of

its own, distinct and separate from that of the government. The charter provision

that the National Power Corporation can sue and be sued in any court is without

qualification on the cause of action and can include a tort claim. The petition is

granted.

Notes:

Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCC) have a personality of their

own, separate and distinct from the government, their funds, therefore although

considered to be public in character, are not exempt from garnishment.