Saturday, October 11, 2008 PAO overzealous in filing cases: SLI By Katrina A. Balmaceda Sun.Star Correspondent
SHOULD the management of Sulpicio Lines, Inc. (SLI) be blamed for the sinking of its vessel in the midst of a storm? Was the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) “overzealous” in filing cases against SLI?
SLI raised these issues even as the 24th civil suit for the Princess of the Stars sinking was filed in Cebu yesterday.
This time, Maylin Cabalquinto asked SLI for P15,252,600 in actual, moral and exemplary damages after losing her husband, a seaman who earned P36,000 a month.
Maylin and her husband, Candido Jr., have two children, Laurence Keith and Shanley Han.
Maylin recalled his last text message to her aboard the Stars as he described his final sea voyage: “The boat travels slow and the waves are huge.”
SLI recently asked different Regional Trial Courts (RTC) to dismiss the civil suits filed against it, lawyer Maria G-Ree Calinawan said yesterday. Calinawan heads PAO in
Cebu.
4 grounds
The motion was already filed in different RTCs in Manila. Sun.Star Cebu tried to obtain a copy but the RTCs in Cebu have yet to receive a copy of the motion through mail.
According to Calina-wan, SLI based their motion on four grounds. Among these was a lack of a cause of action against the management.
All the 24 civil suits that have been filed in Cebu named as respondents SLI, deceased vessel captain Florencio Marimon, SLI president Enrique Go, executive vice-president Eusebio Go, executive vice-president and chief executive officer Carlos Go, senior vice-president and secretary Victoriano Go, 1st vice-president Dominador Go, 1st vice-president and treasurer Ricardo Go and 1st vice-presidents Edward and Edgar Go.
In Cebu, the summons sent to Marimon were returned to the PAO, with the word “deceased” written on the back of the envelope.
SLI also argued that the complainants already signed a Release and Quitclaim when they received P200,000 insurance from the company for each missing passenger.
The quitclaim, which the complainants admitted to have signed, supposedly absolved SLI “from any and further liability” to the plaintiff.
SLI also cited the complainants’ non-payment of docket fees and their allegedly defective verification of non-forum shopping.
Calinawan, however, said that Republic Act 9406, the PAO Law, automatically exempts PAO clients from paying docket fees.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez authorized PAO to represent all relatives of the Stars victims, whether the complainants were indigents or not.
But SLI said that the PAO had become “overzealous” in filing the civil suits, regardless of their indigency test.
They pointed this out in an opposition to the PAO’s motion to have all civil cases for the Stars sinking consolidated in a single court – that of RTC Judge Soliver Peras.
Peras, to whose court the first of the 24 suits was raffled off, said he does not plan to oppose the consolidation.
SLI, however, finds it “ill-advised.”
“Due to the number of cases, the consolidation will not work to the convenience and benefit of the parties but will instead cause hardship and inconvenience, especially to the branch of the court that will hear and try the consolidated cases,” SLI’s opposition read.
139 witnesses
The company argued that if each complainant presents five witnesses and each of the 9 respondents presents three, a consolidated trial for 20 cases would have 127 witnesses. Add a dozen more for SLI, and the judge would have to hear a “cumbersome” number of 139 witnesses.
SLI challenged PAO to sustain the effort they have exerted so far and to “not beat a hasty retreat now by supplicating the courts for consolidation of cases.”
However, SLI said, “We humbly submit that this Honorable Court has a far better recourse than consolidation, which is to grant the meritorious motion to dismiss the complaint.”
According to Calinawan, the courts of RTC Judges Simeon Dumdum Jr. and Ramon Daomilas Jr. already received the motion to dismiss and set it for hearing next week.
The staff of the two branches, however, could not confirm receiving copies of the motions.
PAO chief Marivic Acosta plans to come to Cebu for the hearings.
