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RELEVANT FACTS
- Under Presidential Decree No. 388,the Philippine Sugar Commission (PHILSUCOM) was created
and vested with the power to act as the single buying and selling agency of sugar in the
Philippines. On September 7, 1977, PHILSUCOM further organized the National Sugar Trading
Corporation (NASUTRA) as its buying marketing arm. Robert S. Benedicto was the concurrent
Chairman and President of Traders Royal Bank and NASUTRA.
- BACOLOD CASE the case subject of the MOTION to DISMISS: Filed by private respondents
(individual sugar planters and agricultural corporations Manuel Lacson et al.) in Bacolod
claiming there was unpaid shares pursuant to the two Sugar Orders made by PHILSUCOM. The
claims cover the sugar export sales supposedly undervalued by NASUTRA and coursed through
Traders Royal Bank, the total amount of which is claimed by respondents to be $33,907,172. 47
(SEE NOTES for the Claims and Cause of action)
o The private respondents charged here in petitioner with fraud and bad faith, in
undervaluing the sugar export sales and refusing to furnish them data.
- PETITIONER (BENEDICTO) then filed a MOTION TO DISMISS alleging that:
o (1) [PERTINENT GROUND FOR MOTION TO DISMISS ]that respondents had violated the
rule on forum shopping; To support the allegation of forum shopping Benedicto
presented 3 other cases filed against him :
(a) Hector Lacson, et al. v. NASUTRA et al., (Hector Lacson Case);
(b) Ramon Monfort et al. v. NASUTRA et al. (Ramon Monfort Case);
(c) Manuel Lacson, et al. v. NASUTRA, et al. (Pasig Case). -> IMPORTANT CASE,
most likely the ground for dismissal
o (2) that respondents have no cause of action;
o (3) that the issues involved are res judicata or rendered moot by case law; Benedicto
cited the following cases:
o (4) that the claim or demand has already been paid.
- Private respondents filed a joint opposition to the motion to dismiss and together with it an
amended certificate of non-forum shopping:
o “That, except for the PASIG CASE entitled Manuel Lacson v. Roberto S. Benedicto, et al.,
Civil Case 65156, Pasig, RTC Branch 264, filed by some of the Plaintiffs on June 20, 1995
and subsequently withdrawn by them without prejudice on November 14, 1995
pursuant to Sec. 1, Rule 17 prior to the filing of the present suit,”
- RTC DECISION: GRANTED THE MOTION TO DISMISS, finding that there was forum shopping
committed:
o The RTC also held that respondents were guilty of forum shopping for failure to report in
their original anti-forum shopping certification in the Bacolod Case that they had filed a
similar case with the RTC of Pasig notwithstanding that the same had been withdrawn
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by them. The RTC ruled that even if the Pasig Case had been withdrawn, the same had
already been commenced.
- CA Decision: Reversed the ruling of the RTC, denied the motion to dismiss and remanded the
same to the RTC.
ISSUE
● Whether or not there was forum shopping? NO.
● Whether or not the case should be dismissed based on the ground of litis pendentia? NO.
RATIO DECIDENDI
Issue Ratio
Whether or not there was NO. The Pasig case had already been dismissed upon motion by
forum shopping? Benedicto in that case, before the commencement of the present
Bacolod case. The dismissal in that case, despite it being very similar
to the case at hand, was made without prejudice. The RTC order of
dismissal is reproduced:
Whether or not there was NO. The court found that there was no identity of causes of action
litis pendentia? in the two cases. The instant case involves undervaluation, while the
Lacson case involves overcharging of trading costs for a different
year and the Monfort case is based on the erroneous exchange rate
being used. The case at hand fails the test to determine the same
causes of action since the cases necessarily require different
evidence.
With regard to the other While petitioners Motion to Dismiss was granted by the RTC in its
ground of the motion to June 5, 1996 Order, the same Order, however, effectively denied
dismiss the other grounds raised by petitioner as the same did not appear
to be indubitable without additional evidence.
DISPOSITIVE: WHEREFORE, premises considered, the petition is DENIED. The September 30, 1999
Decision and January 10, 2000 Resolution of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 53841, directing
for the remand of the case, are AFFIRMED. The Regional Trial Court of Bacolod City, Branch 44, is
hereby ordered to hear the case on the merits and decide the same with deliberate dispatch.
SO ORDERED.
NOTES:
SUMMARY OF CLAIMS UNDER THE FIRST TO FIFTEENTH CAUSES OF ACTION
92. As tabulated in Annex C hereof, while the total amount actually paid by the buyers and collected by
the PHILSUCOM and the Defendants NASUTRA, BENEDICTO, MONTEBON and TRB on the sales of
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export sugar subject of the preceding Causes of Action, amounted to US$ 94,146,954.03, the
PHILSUCOM and the said Defendants recorded and reported a total collection of only
US$60,239,781.56, resulting in an undervaluation of Defendant NASUTRAs export sales by US$ 33,
907,172.74 and, correspondingly, in an equivalent understatement of the amount due the Plaintiffs
and other sugar producers in the profits realized from such sales, pursuant to the directive of then
President Marcos as implemented in the PHILSUCOM SUGAR ORDERS hereto attached as Annexes B
and B-1 hereof.
93. Accordingly, on the basis of their respective production of A and C sugar for the 1980-1981 crop
year vis--vis the national production of 20,474,653 piculs of the same classes of sugar for the same
crop year, the Plaintiffs are entitled to the payment by Defendants of their pro rata share, in the
amounts indicated opposite their respective names in Annex C-1 hereof, in the undeclared profit of
US$33,907,172.74 realized from the export sales, subject of the preceding Causes of Action, during the
said crop year