Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila
EN BANC
G.R. Nos. L-17481 and L-17537 to L-17559 August 15, 1961
LIBERATA ANTONIO ESTRADA, CANUTO CENIZAN, NAZARIO DE LA CRUZ, GENARO ALVARO, ET AL., petitioners,
vs.
COURT OF AGRARIAN RELATIONS and FAUSTINO F. GALVAN, respondents.
Ortiz and Valencia Law office for petitioners.
Nora G. Nostatis for respondent court.
R E S O L U T I O N
NATIVIDAD, J.:
These cases are now before this Court on the petition flied by the petitioners under date of June 10, 1961, asking that the manager of the Moncada Bonded Warehouse and respondent Faustino F. Galvan be declared in contempt of court and punished accordingly.
It appears that, upon motion, this Court, on January 6, 1961, issued a resolution of the following tenor:
In cases L-17481 and L-17537 to 17559 (Liberata Antonio Estrada, et al. vs. Court of Agrarian Relations and Faustino Galvan), considering the motion, and opposition thereto, that the owner or manager of the Moncada Bonded Warehouse be ordered to release and give to petitioners-appellants the remaining deposits — 10% of the net produce of the first crop minus P300.00 and 15% of the net produce of the second crop minus P200.00, the COURT RESOLVED to grant the motion without prejudice to subsequent accounting.
that on April 12, 1961, this Court, passing upon motion filed by the petitioners in which they alleged that the manager of the Moncada Bonded Warehouse had refused to comply with the above resolution unless "the original of the receipts of palay deposits be presented and surrendered to him," issued another resolution which provides:
In cases L-17537 to 17559 (Liberata Antonio Estrada, et al. vs. Court of Agrarian Relations, et al.), considering the petitioner's motion dated March 18, 1961, and the respondents' opposition thereto, THE COURT RESOLVED to order respondent Faustino Galvan to surrender the original of the receipts of the palay deposits to the manager or owner of the Moncada Bonded Warehouse, Moncada Tarlac.
that the manager of the Moncada Bonded Warehouse and respondent Faustino F. Galvan were duly served with notice of the above resolutions, and that notwithstanding such service of notice and in spite of repeated demands, the manager of the Moncada Bonded Warehouse and respondent Faustino F. Galvan refused and still refuse to comply with the above orders of this Court, the former, for the reason that petitioners could not surrender to him the original of the warehouse receipts issued for the palay in question, and the latter, because, as he alleged in his answer to the motion for contempt, he could not locate any more said receipts "as they were scattered, misplaced, destroyed or lost when the contents of the Office of said respondent-appellee, Faustino F. Galvan, in the Galvan-Cabrera Building in Ylaya Street, Manila, were being desperately evacuated therefrom during the fire which burned the Divisoria market and said Galvan-Cabrera Building in Ylaya Street, Manila, in the latter part of May, 1961." The excuses respectively offered by the manager of the Moncada Bonded Warehouse and respondent Faustino F. Galvan are not without some merits. The former unquestionably had the right to protect the interest of the bonded warehouse of which he was manager, as the warehouse receipts issued for the palay in question might have been for the value in favor of innocent third parties; and the latter, or Faustino F. Galvan, might have in fact lost said warehouse receipts in the manner above stated, for his allegation to the effect in his answer to petitioners' motion for contempt until now has not been contradicted. Such incidents, however, do not constitute a valid excuse to evade compliance with the order of this Court that the palay in question be delivered to the petitioners, and, considering that the petitioners, according to the manifestation filed by their counsel under date of August 3, 1961, are in dire need of said palay for their subsistence, our order must be carried out in the meantime that this cases have not been finally decided in order to ameliorate the precarious situation in which said petitioners find themselves.
WHEREFORE, it is hereby ordered that the manager or the owner of the Moncada Bonded Warehouse in Moncada, Tarlac, and respondent Faustino F. Galvan release and deliver to the petitioners the portion still remaining to be delivered to them or their shares in the palay involved in these cases, i.e.,
(a) 10% of the net produce of the first crops minus P300.00; and
(b) 15% of the net produce of the second crops minus P200.00;
which was ordered deposited in said warehouse by the trial court, upon the issuance by said petitioners, or their duly authorized representative, of the corresponding receipts, without the necessity of producing and surrendering the original of the warehouse receipts issued therefore. It is so ordered.
Padilla, Labrador, Reyes, J.B.L., Barrera, Paredes, Dizon and De Leon, JJ., concur.
Bengzon, C.J., took no part.
Concepcion, J., took no part.
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