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Rayo Vs CFI G.R. No. L-55273-83 Case Digest

During a typhoon, the National Power Corporation opened floodgates at the Angat Dam simultaneously, causing widespread flooding in several Bulacan towns. About 100 residents died and property was destroyed. Petitioners filed damages complaints against the corporation and plant superintendent. The corporation claimed it cannot be sued without state consent as it performs a governmental function. The court ruled that as a government-owned corporation with its own legal personality, it can be sued under its charter which allows it to "sue and be sued" without limiting the cause of action.

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50 views1 page

Rayo Vs CFI G.R. No. L-55273-83 Case Digest

During a typhoon, the National Power Corporation opened floodgates at the Angat Dam simultaneously, causing widespread flooding in several Bulacan towns. About 100 residents died and property was destroyed. Petitioners filed damages complaints against the corporation and plant superintendent. The corporation claimed it cannot be sued without state consent as it performs a governmental function. The court ruled that as a government-owned corporation with its own legal personality, it can be sued under its charter which allows it to "sue and be sued" without limiting the cause of action.

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LBitz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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G.R. No.

L-55273-83 December 19, 1981

GAUDENCIO RAYO, et al, petitioners,


vs.
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF BULACAN, BRANCH V, STA. MARIA, and NATIONAL
POWER CORPORATION, respondents.

FACTS:

On the height of that infamous typhoon "KADING" the respondent corporation opened or caused to
be opened simultaneously all the three floodgates of the Angat Dam. It caused floods in several
towns in Bulacan and about a hundred of its residents died or were reported to have died and
properties worth million of pesos destroyed or washed away.

Petitioners filed with the respondent Court eleven complaints for damages against the respondent
corporation and the plant superintendent of Angat Dam, Benjamin Chavez.

Respondent corporation filed separate answers to each of these eleven complaints and assailed that
it is merely performing a propriety functions and that under its own organic act, hence it cannot be
sued without the express consent of the State.

ISSUES:

1. Whether respondent National Power Corporation performs a governmental function with respect
to the management and operation of the Angat Dam; and

2. Whether the power of respondent National Power Corporation to sue and be sued under its
organic charter includes the power to be sued for tort.

RULING:

1. It is sufficient to say that the government has organized a private corporation, put money in it
and has allowed it to sue and be sued in any court under its charter. (R.A. No. 6395, Sec. 3
(d).) As a government owned and controlled corporation, it has a personality of its own,
distinct and separate from that of the Government.
2. the charter provision that the NPC can "sue and be sued in any court" is without qualification
on the cause of action and accordingly it can include a tort claim such as the one instituted
by the petitioners.

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