G.R. No.

L-55963 December 1, 1989

On August 26, 1976 a pickup bearing a Plate no. IN-651 owned by National Irrigation Administration, officially driven by Hugo Garcia, bumped a bicycle ridden by Francisco Fontanilla and Restituto Deligo at Maharlika Highway, San Jose City. As a result of the impact, Fontanilla and Deligo were injured and brought to the San Jose City Emergency Hospital for treatment. Fontanilla was transferred to the Cabanatuan Provincial Hospital where he died. Garcia was a regular driver of the said agency who was a licensed professional driver and who qualified for employment as such regular driver of respondent after having passed the written and oral examinations on traffic rules and maintenance of vehicles given by National Irrigation Administration authorities. The victims parent filed a civil action against NIA and its driver Garcia who was found guilty of driving recklessly on April 17, 1978 before the then Court of First Instance of Nueva Ecija, Branch VIII at San Jose City, for damages in connection with the death of their son resulting from the aforestated accident. The trial court rendered judgment on March 20, 1980 in favor of the petitioners and NIA was ordered to pay the petitioners the amounts of P 12,000 for the death of the victim; P3,389 for hospitalization and burial expenses; P30,000 as moral damages; P8,000 as exemplary damages, and attorneys fees of 20% of the total award. The respondent appealed to the court of appeals the said decision.

Whether or not NIA is performing governmental functions and is thus exempt from suit for damages caused by the negligent act of its driver who is not its special agent?

No, Special Agents are of two kinds: a. Public officials with a particular assigned tasks but is specially commissioned to do such task foreign to his usual assigned governmental function. b. Private person not a public official, commissioned to perform nongovernmental function. A government commissioning a private person for a special task is acting thru special agent within the meaning of Art 2180 NCC The functions of government have been classified into governmental or constituent and proprietary or ministrant. The former involves the exercise of sovereignty and considered as compulsory, the latter connotes merely the exercise of proprietary functions and thus considered as optional. The functions of providing water supply and sewerage service are regarded as mere optional functions of government even though the service rendered caters to the community as a whole and the goal is for the general interest of society. The NIA was not created for purposes of local government. NIA was essentially a service agency of the government aimed at promoting public interest and public welfare, such fact does not make the NIA essentially and purely a governmentfunction corporation. NIA was created for the purpose of constructing, improving, rehabilitating, and administering all national irrigation systems in the Philippines, including all communal and pump irrigation projects. Certainly, the state and the community as a whole are largely benefited by the services the agency renders, but these functions are only incidental to the principal aim of the agency, which is the irrigation of lands. The NIA is a government agency with a juridical personality separate and distinct from the government. It is not a mere agency of the government but a corporate body performing proprietary functions. Therefore, it may be held liable for the damages caused by the negligent act of its driver who was not its special agent.