Case Digest

Torio vs Fontanilla
G.R. No. L-29993; 85 SCRA 399
October 23, 1978

Facts:
The Municipal Council of Malasiqui, Pangasinan, passed Resolution No. 159 to manage the 1959 Malasiqui town fiesta
celebration The 1959 Malasiqui Town Fiesta Executive Committee was created, which, in turn, organized a sub-committee
on entertainment and stage.
A zarzuela troupe, of which Vicente Fontanilla was a member, arrived for their performance on January 22. During the
zarzuela, the stage collapsed and Fontanilla was pinned underneath. He was immediately hospitalized, but died the following
day.
Fontanillas heirs filed a complaint to recover damages against the Municipality of Malasiqui, its Municipal Council and all the
Councils individual members.
The municipality invoked inter alia the defense that as a legally and duly organized public corporation it performs sovereign
functions and the holding of a town fiesta was an exercise of its governmental functions from which no liability can arise to
answer for the negligence of any of its agents.
The councilors maintained that they merely acted as the municipalitys agents in carrying out the municipal ordinance and as
such they are likewise not liable for damages as the undertaking was not one for profit; furthermore, they had exercised due care
and diligence in implementing the municipal ordinance.
After trial, the RTC dismisses the complaint, concluding that the Executive Committee had exercised due diligence and care in
selecting a competent man for the construction of the stage, and the collapse was due to forces beyond the control of the
committee. Consequently, the defendants were not liable for the death of Vicente Fontanilla. Upon appeal, the Court of Appeals
reversed the trial courts decision and ordered all the defendants-appellees to pay jointly and severally the heirs of Vicente
Fontanilla the sums of P12,000.00 by way of moral and actual damages:P1200.00 its attorneys fees; and the costs.
Issue:
Whether or not the Municipality of Malasiqui may be held liable.

Held:
Yes.
Under Philippine laws, municipalities are political bodies endowed with the faculties of municipal corporations to be exercised by
and through their respective municipal governments in conformity with law, and in their proper corporate name, they may inter
alia sue and be sued, and contract and be contracted with.
The powers of a municipality are two-fold in character: public, governmental or political on the one hand; and corporate, private,
or proprietary on the other. Governmental powers are those exercised by the corporation in administering the powers of the state
and promoting the public welfare. These include the legislative, judicial public, and political. Municipal powers, on the other hand,
are exercised for the special benefit and advantage of the community. These include those which are ministerial, private and
corporate.
This distinction of powers are necessary in determining the liability of the municipality for the acts of its agents which result in
injury to third persons.
If the injury is caused in the course of the performance of a governmental function/duty, no recovery can be had from the
municipality unless there is an existing statute on the matter, nor from its officers, so long as they performed their duties honestly
and in good faith or that they did not act wantonly and maliciously.
With respect to proprietary functions, the settled rule is that a municipal corporation can be held liable to third persons ex
contract or ex delicto. They may also be subject to suit upon contracts and its tort.