February 2007 - Philippine Supreme Court Decisions/Resolutions

Philippine Supreme Court Jurisprudence

G.R. No. 143490 - CHINA BANKING CORP. v. DOLORES PADILLA

FIRST DIVISION

[G.R. NO. SP 143490 : February 2, 2007]

CHINA BANKING CORPORATION, Petitioner, v. DOLORES PADILLA, Respondent.

D E C I S I O N

GARCIA, J.:

Via this Petition for Review under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court, petitioner China Banking Corporation (CBC) seeks the annulment and setting aside of the Resolution¹ dated January 26, 2000 of the Court of Appeals (CA), as reiterated in its Resolution of June 2, 2000,² denying due course to and dismissing CBC's Petition for Certiorari (with Prayer for Issuance of Restraining Order/Preliminary Injunction) in CA-G.R. SP No. 55795, entitled China Banking Corporation v. Hon. Jose R. Bautista, in his capacity as Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court, Makati City, Branch 136, and Dolores Padilla, for petitioner's failure to comply with the requirement of Section 3, Rule 46, of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended.

The facts:

On December 22, 1997, in the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Makati City, private respondent Dolores Padilla, who had a checking account with the petitioner's branch at Tuguegarao, Cagayan filed a complaint³ for sum of money with damages against the petitioner. In her complaint, docketed as Civil Case No. 97-3020 and raffled to now Branch 136 of the court, Padilla, as plaintiff, alleges the following causes of action against the petitioner:

1. Erroneous deductions from her Current Account No. 164-001371-5 of the following:

A. The amount of P23,425.00 on March 4, 1997;

b. The amount of P10,000.00, P35,000.00 and P100,000.00 or a total of P168,425.00 on April 1, 1997;

c. The total amount of P4,540,000.00 without debit memos on different dates;

2. Erroneous payment of China Bank Check No. 47050 with the amount in words stated therein as Eighteen Thousand Pesos only but the figures were written as P80,000.00, resulting in an alleged loss of P62,000.00;

3. Erroneous debiting from her account of PVB -Tuguegarao Branch Check No. 6969 in the amount of P20,000.00.

Prior to the filing of the complaint, petitioner bank audited the transactions involving the respondent's checking account with its Tuguegarao branch and came to the conclusion that if the foregoing allegations were true, the same were imputable to its branch manager Emelina T. Quitan, who, in violation of the petitioner's Code of Ethics and Operations Procedure and Policy Manual, exceeded her authority in the performance of her duties as branch manager. Petitioner also found out that Quitan had committed the following acts, prompting it to terminate the latter's services on November 13, 1998:⁴

1. Allowing the unauthorized overdraft of the respondent in the total amount of P1,475,731.43.

2. Accommodating the overdrawn checks of respondent, i.e., CBC Check Nos. 120935 and 120938 for P100,000.00 each, depositing and posting them as available despite knowledge that they were drawn from insufficient funds in order to fund another depositor's CBC Check No. 116461.

3. Making good CBC Check No. 111459 drawn by respondent for P250,000.00 despite the fact that said check was not sufficiently funded.

4. Granting bills purchased facility without approval of the petitioner.

5. Allowing fund transfers from client's accounts to other accounts in violation of the petitioner's policy prohibiting fund transfers between accounts not owned by the same party.

6. Defying the lawful order of her superior.ςηαñrοblεš �νιr†υαl �lαω �lιbrαrÿ

7. And other numerous acts and omissions.

Believing that there was sufficient cause to hold its branch manager liable to it by way of indemnity, subrogation and contribution in respect to Padilla's complaint, petitioner filed with the trial court a motion for leave of court to file a third-party complaint⁵ against Quitan.

In its Order⁶ of August 17, 1999, the trial court denied the motion on the ground that petitioner, as a corporation, could act only through its employees and was responsible for the acts committed by them in the discharge of their function, adding that Quitan's inclusion in the case was not proper and whatever claims the petitioner may have had against her should be ventilated in another forum. Petitioner moved for a reconsideration but to no avail.

From the adverse action of the trial court, petitioner went to the CA on a petition for certiorari, docketed as CA-G.R. SP No. 55795.

In the herein challenged Resolution⁷ dated January 26, 2000, the CA denied due course to and dismissed the petition for petitioner's failure to comply with Section 3, Rule 46, infra, of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended, which mandates that certified true copies of the documents or pleadings mentioned in the petition must be attached thereto. Partly says the CA in its assailed Resolution:

Except for the orders of the court a quo denying the motion for leave of court to file third-party complaint dated July 26, 1999 and August 17, 1999 and the order dated September 20, 1999 clarifying the above two (2) orders and denying the motion for reconsideration, other relevant documents attached to the petition are plain photo copies and not certified copies pursuant to the Rules (Annexes "D", p. 29; "E", p. 103; and "F", p. 133, Rollo).

There are also pertinent documents which were referred to but not appended to the petition, such as petitioner's motion for reconsideration filed on August 20, 1999, the pre-trial order dated February 25, 1998, motion for consolidation, order dated March 11, 1999 granting the motion for consolidation, order of inhibition dated April 21, 1998, motion for consolidation filed on May 25, 1998, and comment on the motion for leave of court including the counter-comment/reply.

In time, petitioner filed a motion for reconsideration, thereunder explaining that its failure to adhere to the rule was due to honest mistake and excusable negligence and was not meant, in any slightest degree, to defy the mandate of the procedural rules. In the same motion, petitioner also maintained that it had now fully complied with Section 3 of Rule 46 because certified true copies of the documents/pleadings mentioned in its petition were already attached to its motion.

In its subsequent Resolution⁸ of June 2, 2000, the CA denied the petitioner's motion for reconsideration, explaining that the latter's subsequent compliance, without any compelling reason for its failure to do so in the first instance, did not warrant the reconsideration sought.

Hence, this recourse by the petitioner raising the following issues:⁹

I

WHETHER THE COURT A QUO ERRED IN ADAMANTLY REFUSING TO RECONSIDER ITS RESOLUTION OF JANUARY 26, 2000 AND TO REINSTATE THE PETITION DESPITE COMPLIANCE BY PETITIONER WITH THE REQUIREMENT IN SECTION 3, RULE 46 OF THE 1997 RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE.

II

WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ACTED WITH GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION IN DENYING PETITIONER'S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE THIRD PARTY COMPLAINT.

We DENY.

Section 3, Rule 46, of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended, provides:

SEC. 3. Contents and filing of petition; effect of non-compliance with requirements. - xxx

x x x

It shall be filed in seven (7) clearly legible copies together with proof of service thereof on the respondent with the original copy intended for the court indicated as such by the petitioner, and shall be accompanied by a clearly legible duplicate original or certified true copy of the judgment, order, resolution, or ruling subject thereof, such material portions of the record as are referred to therein, and other documents relevant or pertinent thereto. xxx

x x x

The failure of the petitioner to comply with any of the foregoing requirements shall be sufficient ground for the dismissal of the petition. (Italics ours)

The above rule is clear. Failure to comply with the requirement that the petition shall be accompanied by a certified true copy of the resolutions, orders or any rulings subject thereof is a sufficient ground for the dismissal of the petition.

Petitioner contends that its failure to attach the required documents to its petition is due to honest mistake and excusable negligence and that it was not meant to defy the mandate of the procedural rule. In Sea Power Shipping Enterprises, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, et al.,¹⁰ the Court had already held that "oversight" and "excusable negligence" have become an all too familiar and ready excuse on the part of lawyers remiss in their bounden duty to comply with established rules. Rules of procedure are tools designed to promote efficiency and orderliness, as well as to facilitate attainment of justice, such that strict adherence thereto is required. The application of the Rules may be relaxed only when rigidity would result in a defeat of equity and substantial justice,¹¹ which is not true in this case.

Even assuming that the petition filed in CA-G.R. SP No. 55795 is sufficient in form, still the same is dismissible there being no grave abuse of discretion committed by the trial court in issuing its order of August 17, 1999 which denied the petitioner's motion for leave of court to file third-party complaint against its branch manager. Explicitly, Section 11, Rule 6, of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended, provides:

SEC. 11. Third (fourth, etc.)-party complaint. - A third (fourth, etc.)-party complaint is a claim that a defending party may, with leave of court, file against a person not a party to the action, called the third (fourth, etc.)-party defendant, for contribution, indemnity, subrogation or any other relief, in respect of his opponent's claim.

A third-party complaint is actually a complaint independent of, and separate and distinct from, the plaintiff's complaint. Were it not for the above rule, such third-party complaint would have to be filed independently and separately from the original complaint. The purpose is to avoid circuitry of action and unnecessary proliferation of lawsuits and of disposing expeditiously in one litigation all the matters arising from one particular set of facts.¹²

Be that as it may, trial courts are not especially enjoined by law to admit a third-party complaint. They are vested with discretion to allow or disallow a party to an action to implead an additional party. Thus, a defendant has no vested right to file a third-party complaint.¹³

In any event, whatever claim the petitioner may have against its branch manager may, as correctly ruled by the trial court in its Order of August 17, 1999, still be enforced in a separate action. In short, the denial of petitioner's motion for leave of court to file a third-party complaint against Quitan for whatever claim for contribution, indemnity, subrogation or any other relief it may have against the latter vis a vis the basic complaint of the private respondent in Civil Case No. 97-3020 is not lost.

WHEREFORE, the petition is DENIED and the challenged resolutions of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 55795 are AFFIRMED.

Costs against the petitioner.

SO ORDERED.

Endnotes:

---

¹ Penned by Associate Justice Mariano M. Umali and concurred in by Associate Justices Salome A. Montoya and Bernardo LL. Salas (all ret.); Rollo, pp. 43-45.

² Id. at 47-49.

³ Id. at 77-85.

⁴ Id. at 150.

⁵ Id. at 143-153.

⁶ Id. at. 74-75.

⁷ Id. at 43-45.

⁸ Id. at 47-49.

⁹ Petitioner's Memorandum, Rollo, pp. 388-408.

¹⁰ 412 Phil. 603 (2001).

¹¹ Lustaña v. Jimena-Lazo, G.R. No. 143558, August 19, 2005, 467 SCRA 429.

¹² Firestore Tire and Rubber Company of the Philippines v. Tempongco, G.R. No. L-24399, March 28, 1969, 27 SCRA 418, cited in Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines v. Cuenca, G.R. No. 163981, August 12, 2005, 466 SCRA 714.

¹³ Tayao v. Mendoza, G.R. No. 162733, April 12, 2005, 455 SCRA 726.

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