Republic of the Philippines

National Capital Judicial Region

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch 86, Manila

NATIONAL SUPPLIES CORPORATION

and NATIONAL TRUCKING
CORPORATION
Plaintiffs,
Civil Case No. 62709
-versus-
ALLIED SHIPPING CORP.,
Defendant.
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DECISION
This is an action for damages arising from alleged breach of
contract filed by National Supplies Corporation (NSC) and
National Trucking Corporation (NTC) against defendant Allied
Shipping Corporation (Allied Shipping) and its alleged failure
to deliver the 4,868 bags of non-fat dried milk to NSAs
consignee, with the total amount of P2,862,939.64 with NTC

The Evidence of the Plaintif

At the trial, the plaintiff stipulated the following facts:
Vicente Tuason, NSC's manager for Relief Operation declared
that his department engaged the services of defendant
common carrier to ship commodites involved; that upon NSC
delivery of commodities the latter would issue the
corresponding bill of lading acknowledgement receipt of the
commodities on board in its vessel and payment that NSC
sent the bill to consignee Mr. Salim of NTC; that upon receipt
Mr. Salim would go to the common carrier to surrender the
consignees bill of lading in exhange of the release of the
commodities and sign the delivery receipt; that NTC is still in
possession of the copy of the bill of lading because they
were not received by Mr. Salim.
Ruiz testified that he has been in charge of relief operation
and that he and Mr. Salim have some amount of control or
supervision over those Freight Forwarding Operation; that he
sent bills of lading in registered mail to Salim who received
them; that Salim allegedly reported by telephone call the
non-delivery of the commodities covered by the bill of lading
to supervisor Leonora Sotto. He is also familiar to the
signature of Mr. Hasan Salim though he never saw him
signing documents and that Salim havong voluntarily
resigned when an investigation was conducted on missing
commodities.
Atty. Gregorio Lantana, second witness of the plaintiff
testified that he has been the claim insurance manager of
NTC since 2003. He went to ZamboangaCity and conferred
with Hassan Salim. Salim told Atty. Lantana that he did not
receive the shipment and showed him the original copies of
consignee's bill of ladin. Atty. Lantana also went to the
representative of the Allied Shipping Corporation and said
that the goods were already withdrawn by Mr. Saim but he
could not produce any receipt signed by Salim. Lantana went
back to Zamboanga for further investigation and Salim
insisted that he did not withdraw the goods from Allied
Shipping. Lantana postponed the investigation the following
day but Salim did not appear and instead sent somebody to
submit his signed resignation. The checker of Allied Shipping
told him that the signatures on the receipt are not the same
as the signature of Mr. Salim. Lantana never saw Salim again
after receiving his resignation.
The Evidence of the Defendant
At the trial, the defendant stipulated the following facts:
Ricardo Samson, witness of the defendant has been the
delivery checker of Jose Razon's Shipping Agency and took
care of the delivery of cargos from the port to the consignee
or his authorized representative. He testified that he knows
NTC and made deliveries to Hassan Salim. Ricardo Samson
have the original and xerox copies of the cargo delivery
receipts as proof of the deliveries he made to Salim from
October to December 2003. He also have the original copies
of receipt but it was lost due to their office was being
renovated and cannot locate said documents. Samson
presented various cargo delivery receipts evidencing the
actual delivery made by Allied Shipping to NTC with
signatures of Hassan Salim.
Ismael Zamora also testitifed that as a delivery checker, he
delivered the cargoes to Hassan Salim, and that the person
who received the cargo shipment signed the delivery receipt
and that some were signed by his subordinates.
Atty. Ariel M. Luna, third witness for the defendant and who
is the corporate secretary and administrative head of Allied
Shipping, testified that thru Artemio Carpio, head of claims
department, investigated and wrote a letter to NTC informing
him that the 5,824 bags of milk were delivered to the
consignee Hassan Salim. Luna contends that the filing of this
case affected the business credibility of the defendant and
brought hardship in soliciting business.
 The Issue
Whether Allied Shipping was able to deliver the cargo to
the consignee Mr. Hassan Salim of NTC.
Wheter or not NTC is still in possession of the
consignee's copy of bill of lading because it was not
received by Mr. Salim

Discussion
While it is true that Mr. Hasan Salim was the consignee in all
the bills of lading and personally attended deliveries of NTC
there were times that he was not able to attend deliveries
due to some appointments and authorized his subordinates
to continue receiving deliveries and sign the delivery receipt
after cargos was taken out from the container van. Salim's
subordinates also attested the presence of him when Allied
Shipping made its delivery to NTC.
Plaintiff failed to present Salim to refute or deny the same
because delivery of the commodities is in question by Allied
Shipping to NTC.
Atty. Gregorio the second witness for the plaintiff testified
that on February 2, 2001, the day before Salims resignation
he talked to Salim about the missing cargoes and that the
latter was reluctant to answer. Why was Salim reluctant to
answer when he was the person responsible for the goods,
being the consignee and the Branch Supervisor of NTC. After
Febuary 3, 2001, Gregorio never saw Salim anymore. Salims
avoidance of further investigation and his resignation from
NTC are evidence of his guilt.
Considering the evidence presented, the plaintiff have failed
to prove their causes of action by clear preponderance of
evidence. Hence, there complaint must be dismissed.
WHEREFORE, judgment is rendered in favor of the
defendant, plaintiffs complaint is dismissed and ordering the
plaintiff pursuant to the defendant counterclaims to pay
jointly and solidarily to the defendant actual damages in the
amount of 50,000 and attorneys fee of 70,000 plus the cost
of suit.
SO ORDERED.
Manila, May 14, 2008.

Carlo Angelo C. Dumlao

16-07350A
Judge