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EPITACIO SAN PABLO, v. PANTRANCO SOUTH EXPRESS, INC., TRANSPO CASE DIGEST, 4BLM - GROUP TWO

1) Pantranco South Express, Inc. requested to operate a ferry boat service between Matnog, Sorsogon and Allen, Samar to transport its buses and freight trucks, but MARINA rejected the request. 2) The Board of Transportation allowed the operation without another certificate of public convenience, but petitioners contested that Pantranco needs a separate certificate to operate as a coastwise shipping service. 3) The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the petitioners, finding that the distance between Matnog and Allen requires coastwise shipping, not merely a ferry service, so Pantranco must obtain a separate certificate of public convenience to operate as a common

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151 views2 pages

EPITACIO SAN PABLO, v. PANTRANCO SOUTH EXPRESS, INC., TRANSPO CASE DIGEST, 4BLM - GROUP TWO

1) Pantranco South Express, Inc. requested to operate a ferry boat service between Matnog, Sorsogon and Allen, Samar to transport its buses and freight trucks, but MARINA rejected the request. 2) The Board of Transportation allowed the operation without another certificate of public convenience, but petitioners contested that Pantranco needs a separate certificate to operate as a coastwise shipping service. 3) The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the petitioners, finding that the distance between Matnog and Allen requires coastwise shipping, not merely a ferry service, so Pantranco must obtain a separate certificate of public convenience to operate as a common

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CASE NO. 14
G.R. No. L-61461, 21 August 1987

EPITACIO SAN PABLO, Petitioners, v. PANTRANCO SOUTH


EXPRESS, INC., Respondent.

FACTS:
Pantranco South Express, Inc. is a domestic corp. engaged in the land
transportation business with PUB service for passengers and freight and various
certificates for public conveniences to operate passenger buses from Metro
Manila to Bicol Region and Eastern Samar. Then after, Pantranco wrote
Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) to request to operate a ferry boat
service from Matnog, Sorsogon to Allen, Samar for their company buses and
their freight trucks that have to cross San Bernardo Strait, but MARINA
rejected their request.

Pantranco nevertheless acquired the vessel MV Black Double, then


requested the Board of Transportation (BOT) to be able to operate and carry its
passengers, buses and freight trucks between Allen and Matnog. Due this
request, BOT asked the legal opinion of Minister of Justice Ricardo Puno, who
said that there is no need for bus companies to secure another certificate of
public convenience (CPC) to operate a ferryboat because when the bus
company proposes to add a ferry service to its Pasay to Sorsogon to Tacloban
route, it merely does so in the discharge of its current certificate of public
convenience as the ferry is a mere continuation of the highway which is only
interrupted by a small body of water. So, the BOT rendered its decision that the
Ferry boat service is part of the CPC to operate from Pasay to Samar, and the
BOT merely amended Pnatranco’s CPC so as to reflect the same.

Due this, Epitacio San Pablo and Cardinal Shipping Corp., who are
franchise holders of Ferry Service in the area that Pantranco wants to operate at,
filed a Petition for Review on Certiorari to the Supreme Court, contesting that
Pantranco is not merely a private carrier/ferry service who operates exclusively
to transport its buses, passengers and freights and does not offer its services to
the general public, so as to be excused from applying for a separate Certficate of
Public Convenience, but that it is a coastwise or interisland shipping service,
which still needs to secure a separate Certificate of Public Convenience, aside
from the one it currently has.

ISSUE:
Is Pantranco merely a private carrier/ferry service which can operate its
ferry boat without need of another CPC, or is it operating as a coastwise
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shipping service with the need to secure a separate CPC aside from the one it
currently has to operate land transportation?

RULING :
Petition is granted and the deicision of Board of Transportation is
reversed and set aside. The distance between Matnog and Allen is about 23
kilometers for ½ to 2 hours and the ocean at times is choppy and rough.
Considering the environmental circumstances, the conveyance of passengers,
trucks and cargo from Matnog to Allen is certainly not a ferry service, but a
coastwise or interisland shipping service. Matnog and Allen are separated by an
open sea and not a small body of water, so this open sea cannot be considered a
continuation of the hiway.

Pantranco does not deny that it charges passengers separately from the
bus trips and issues separate tickets for boarding MV Black Double, and
Pantranco cannot pretend that in issuing this tickets to its passengers, it did so as
a private carrier and not a common carrier.

Before Pantranco can operate its water transport, it must secure first a
separate CPC for the operation of said service as a common carrier.

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