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EN BANC

G.R. No. L-48025 May 29, 1942

THE CITY OF MANILA, Plaintiff-Appellant, vs. LA GRANJA, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

City Fiscal Alejo Mabanag for appellant.
Esposo & Floirendo for appellee.

BOCOBO, J.: chanrobles virtual law library

The City of Manila seeks to recover from La Granja, Inc., the sum of P4,800 as first-class wholesale liquor license fees under section 2531 of the Revised Administrative Code, for the years 1933 to 1936. The Court of First Instance found that the defendant's branch in Manila was a mere bodega or warehouse as a distributing center from which wines and liquors sold by defendant in its principal office at Aparri, Cagayan, or in its branches at Cabanatuan (Nueva Ecija) and Rosales (Pangasinan) were sent out to the buyers in various provinces. Therefore, the trial court held that the defendant was not liable to pay the license fees demanded by the plaintiff. The City of Manila appealed from such decision.chanroblesvirtualawlibrary chanrobles virtual law library

Section 2531 of the Revised Administrative Code provides:

SEC. 2531. First-class wholesale liquor license. - Licenses for periods of one year may be issued to any person or persons of good character, authorizing him or them to keep in stock and sell or give away fermented malt, vinous, and spirituous liquors in quantities of four liters or more, upon payment in advance of the sum of one thousand two hundred pesos; but such licenses may be paid in advance in four quarterly installments of three hundred pesos each, at the election of the licensee. A license of this class shall be known as a "first-class wholesale liquor license," and it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to sell or otherwise dispose of fermented malt, vinous, and spirituous liquors at wholesale without such license, or, having obtained such license, to sell or otherwise dispose of such liquors except as herein prescribed, but nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting any person or persons holding a "brewer's license" or "distiller's license" from disposing of the products of such brewery or distillery at the place of production.

While there is evidence presented by the plaintiff tending to show that the sales of wines and liquors were made in the Manila branch, nevertheless it is unnecessary to pass upon this evidence, because even if the defendant's establishment in the City of Manila had been merely a warehouse used as a distributing center, as maintained by the defendant and found by the lower court, La Granja, Inc., would still be liable to pay the license fees in question because such a distribution of the merchandise was a disposal of the same within the meaning of section 2531 of the Administrative Code. And it is only fair and just that the defendant should pay these fees because whether the wines and liquors were sold or were merely deposited in Manila and distributed from the city, protection by the city against robbery, theft, fire and the like was afforded the defendant.chanroblesvirtualawlibrary chanrobles virtual law library

Wherefore, the judgment of the trial court should be and is hereby reversed, and another judgment will be entered, ordering the defendant to pay the City of Manila the amount of P4,800 with legal interest from the date of filing of the complaint, with costs against the defendant. So ordered.chanroblesvirtualawlibrary chanrobles virtual law library

Yulo, C.J., Moran, Ozaeta, and Paras, JJ., concur.