Title
International Container Terminal Services, Inc. vs. Court of Appeals
Case
G.R. No. 116910
Decision Date
Oct 18, 1995
PPA's pilotage order contested; Manila Pilots sued for damages, mandamus, and contempt. SC ruled no forum shopping as cases addressed distinct issues and remedies.
harbor pilots associations
pilotage services
court battle

Case Summary (G.R. No. L-56224-26)

Parties, Court, and Material Dates

The litigation began with Civil Case No. 88-44726 before the Regional Trial Court of Manila, where United Harbor and Manila Pilots sought to invalidate A.O. No. 02-88. On October 26, 1989, the trial court ruled in their favor and declared A.O. No. 02-88 null and void, and made a preliminary injunction permanent. The Court of Appeals dismissed an attempted review on jurisdictional grounds, and the Supreme Court denied review with finality on June 8, 1992. After this finality, International Container took over pilotage services at the Manila International Port area on October 28, 1992 based on a contract with the Philippine Ports Authority, leading to contempt proceedings and further civil actions. The Supreme Court later addressed, in the present petition, the issue of whether forum shopping existed in relation to Civil Case No. 93-66143 and related proceedings.

Factual Background Leading to the Controversy

United Harbor and Manila Pilots challenged A.O. No. 02-88 after representations to then Acting Secretary of Transportation and Communications, Hon. Rainerio O. Reyes, and the Chairman of the Philippine Ports Authority failed. They asserted that A.O. No. 02-88 violated an asserted exclusive right to provide pilotage services in the Philippines. Their petition for certiorari and prohibition with a prayer for a temporary restraining order was docketed as Civil Case No. 88-44726. In that case, the Regional Trial Court held that respondents exceeded jurisdiction and acted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction in approving Resolution No. 869 and enacting A.O. No. 02-88. The trial court declared A.O. No. 02-88 null and void and permanently enjoined its implementation.

Prior Final Judgment Affecting Pilotage Rights

The decision in Civil Case No. 88-44726 became final after appellate proceedings. Although the Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal for lack of jurisdiction because it raised only a purely legal question, the subsequent petition for review on certiorari was denied with finality by the Supreme Court on June 8, 1992. The Supreme Court thereafter treated that final judgment as recognizing with finality the exclusivity of the pilotage rights of United Harbor and Manila Pilots, both jointly and as to the Philippines, prior to the institution of later actions.

International Container’s Entry and the Contempt Proceedings

Despite the finality of the judgment in Civil Case No. 88-44726, International Container took over pilotage services at the Manila International Port area (also known as the Manila International Container Terminal or MICT area) on October 28, 1992 by virtue of a contract with the Philippine Ports Authority. In response, United Harbor and Manila Pilots filed a series of contempt petitions in Civil Case No. 88-44726, seeking to have Philippine Ports Authority General Manager Rogelio A. Dayan, International Container officials, and other persons held in contempt for alleged defiance of the permanent injunction in Civil Case No. 88-44726. The record explained that the contempt petitions remained unresolved because the Office of the Solicitor General elevated to the Supreme Court the question whether the lower court still had jurisdiction to take cognizance of the contempt petitions in view of the finality of the decision in Civil Case No. 88-44726. That matter was docketed as G.R. No. 107720.

Subsequent Civil Actions and Their Distinct Objectives

While the contempt petitions were pending, Manila Pilots filed additional cases against International Container. One action was docketed as Civil Case No. 93-66024, filed before Branch 32 of the Regional Trial Court of Manila. It sought damages for alleged usurpation of Manila Pilots’ sole and exclusive harbor pilotage exercise in the South and North Harbors of Manila and Limay, Bataan, excluding the Manila International Port area, covering the period from April 19, 1993 to April 29, 1993. Another action was docketed as Civil Case No. 66143 before Branch 47 of the Regional Trial Court of Manila (as described in the text, and referred to in the petition as Civil Case No. 93-66143). That action sought mandamus, prohibition with preliminary mandatory injunction and damages to restrain International Container’s continuing refusal to relinquish pilotage services in the Manila International Port area. On January 20, 1994, the Regional Trial Court issued the writ prayed for, restoring and reinstating Manila Pilots to the exclusive exercise of harbor pilotage in the Manila International Port (MIP) area and commanding International Container to cease and desist from usurping or exercising the right to compulsory pilotage in that area.

The Certiorari Petition and the Central Inquiry: Forum Shopping

International Container assailed the trial court’s January 20, 1994 order by filing a petition for certiorari before the Court of Appeals. It argued that Civil Case No. 93-66143 should not proceed because its filing allegedly violated the prohibition against forum shopping. It asserted that: first, Civil Case No. 93-66143 overlapped with the contempt petitions incident to Civil Case No. 88-44726; second, the pending jurisdictional matter in G.R. No. 107720 was implicated; and third, the damages claim in Civil Case No. 93-66024 involved conduct that should have precluded another case. The Court of Appeals rejected these arguments and affirmed the trial court’s action. The Supreme Court framed the main inquiry as whether there was forum shopping.

The Parties’ Arguments on Forum Shopping

International Container contended that forum shopping existed because the issue in the contempt petitions—raised before the trial judge and also in G.R. No. 107720—was supposedly the same issue involved in the mandamus and prohibition case (Civil Case No. 93-66143). It also claimed that Manila Pilots engaged in forum shopping because, while the contempt petitions and their challenge in G.R. No. 107720 were pending, Manila Pilots filed Civil Case No. 93-66024 for damages relating to pilotage usurpation in ports other than the MIP area.

The Court’s Assessment of the Elements of Forum Shopping

The Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeals’ disposition complied with established rules on forum shopping. The Court stated that forum shopping exists only when both actions involve the same transactions, same essential facts and circumstances, and also raise identical causes of action, subject matter, and issues. Applying these standards, the Court found no required similarity between the actions. It relied on the reasoning attributed to the Court of Appeals: the contempt petition centered on the alleged violation of the permanent injunction not to implement the open pilotage policy under PPA Administrative Order No. 02-88, while the complaint in Civil Case No. 93-66024 was anchored on the alleged usurpation of Manila Pilots’ exclusive right to harbor pilotage only in the MIP area, coupled with a claim for damages from October 29, 1992 onward.

The Distinction Between Jurisdictional Contention and the Mandamus Case

The Court further emphasized the nature of G.R. No. 107720. It explained that G.R. No. 107720 was filed solely to question the lower court’s jurisdiction to take cognizance of the contempt petitions filed in Civil Case No. 88-44726. As such, the issue in G.R. No. 107720 did not bear upon the issues raised in Civil Case No. 93-66143. In addition, the Court described the damages and injunctive aspects of the later cases as directed to different geographic and temporal patterns of alleged usurpation. Civil Case No. 93-66024 sought recovery of unearned income arising from usurpation of pilotage rights in the South and North Harbors of Manila and Limay, Bataan, excluding the MIP area, for April 19, 1993 to April 29, 1993, whereas Civil Case No. 93-66143 sought to enjoin further usurpation in the MIP area from October 28, 1992 onward.

Conceptual Explanation of Forum Shopping and Why It Did Not Apply

The Court reiterated doctrinal descriptions of forum shopping. It quoted the principle that forum shopping occurs when, after receiving an adverse opinion in one forum, a party seeks a favorable opinion in another forum other than by appeal or certiorari. It also explained that resort to multiple fora aims to increase the chances of obtaining a favorable outcome through repeated litigation on the same essential facts and circumstances. The Supreme Court held that these circumstances were not present. Manila Pilots had not received any unfavorable decision in any of the

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