Ace-Agro Development Corp. vs Court of Appeals, GR No. 119729, January 21, 1997, 78 SCAD 146
Subject: Obligations and Contracts
FACTS
Ace-Agro had been cleaning soft drink bottles and
repairing wooden shells for Cosmos within its company premises in San Fernando,
Pampanga. On April 25, 1990, a fire broke out in the Cosmos plant. As a result,
Ace-Agro’s work stopped.
On May 15, 1990, Ace-Agro requested Cosmos to resume
its services, but they were advised that on account of the fire destroying
nearly all the bottles and shells, Cosmos was terminating their contract.
Ace-Agro requested Cosmos to reconsider its decision but upon receiving no
reply, they informed the employees of the termination of their employment,
which led the employees to file a complaint for illegal dismissal before the
Labor Arbiter against both Ace-Agro and Cosmos.
Ace-Agro sent another letter for reconsideration to
Cosmos to which they replied that they could resume work but outside company
premises. Ace-Agro refused the offer, claiming that to work outside would incur
additional transportation costs.
Cosmos then advised Ace-Agro that they could resume
work inside the company premises but then Ace-Agro unjustifiably refused
because it wanted and extension of the contract to make up for the period of
inactivity.
ISSUE
Whether or not the period during which work has been
suspended justify an extension of the term of the contract because the
suspension of work under contract has been brought about by force majeure.
RULING
No, the period during which work has been suspended
cannot justify an extension of the term of the contract.
Under the law (Art 1193), obligations for whose fulfillment
a day certain has been fixed, shall be demandable only when that day comes.
Obligations with a resolutory period take effect at once but terminate upon
arrival of the day certain. A day certain is understood to be that which must
necessarily come, although it may not be known when. If the uncertainty
consists in whether the day will come or not, the obligation is conditional,
and it shall be regulated by the rules of Art 1192.
In this case, the suspension of work due to fire does
not merit an automatic extension. The stipulation that in the event of a
fortuitous event or force majeure the contract shall be deemed suspended during
the said period does not mean that it stops the running of the period the
contract has been agreed upon to run. The fact that the contract is subject to
a resolutory period, which relieves the parties of their respective
obligations, does not stop the running of the period of their contract.
No comments:
Post a Comment