G.R. No. 31058. September 16, 1929
SAN MIGUEL BREWERY, PETITIONER AND APPELLANT, VS. FORTUNATO G. LAPID, RESPONDENT AND. APPELLEE.
VILLAMOR, J.:
a certificate of public convenience to the Public Service Commission to
install, operate, and maintain an ice plant, with a daily capacity of
five tons, in the district of Caridad, municipality of Cayite, Province
of Cavite, alleging that at present there is no ice plant in said
municipality and that the installation of said plant is of the utmost
importance in order to supply a need felt by the inhabitants of the
province, and offering to. sell the ice which may be produced by said
plant in all the municipalities of the Province of Cavite at the rate
of 2£ centavos per kilo when sold at the factory and 2| centavos per
kilo for home delivery.
Subsequently, that is, on August 29, 1928, Zosimo Rojas presented
another application in case No. 17235, asking that a certificate of
public convenience be issued to him to install, maintain and operate an
ice plant in the municipality of Cavite, with a daily capacity of ten
tons, for the benefit of the inhabitants of said municipality and of
the other municipalities of the Province of Cavite, obligating himself
to sell the manufactured ice at the rate of 2 2/3 centavos per kilo when
purchased at the plant and 2 centavos per kilo for home delivery.
The appellant, San Miguel Brewery, objected to said applications,
alleging that it has been operating ice plants in the City of Manila
for several years; that it has been supplying many provinces, among
them that of Cavite, in a regular and continuous manner, supplying and
being disposed to supply, at any time, all the orders and needs which
the people of Cavite may have now and in the future, inasmuch as its
production greatly exceeds the consumption of ice, notwithstanding the
large consignments which it makes to many provinces of the Island of
Luzon.
After the hearing of these cases, the commission rendered a single
judgment, declaring as proven beyond question that there is no ice
plant in the municipality of Cavite and in the districts of Caridad and
San Roque; that the ice for sale in the municipality of Cavite comes
from Manila sent by the San Miguel Brewery to its agent in the
municipality of Cavite, and that a part of it is sent by water and the
other part by land. It likewise declared as proven that the granting
of a certificate of public convenience to either of the two applicants
would redound to the benefit of the public, which can depend upon an
ice plant in its own locality to satisfy its needs; that at present the
Cavite public is not supplied by any local operator but only by the
agents of the San Miguel Brewery in the locality, who are furnished
with ice from that factory. And, by virtue of which, it rendered
judgment declaring that the first applicant, that is, Fortunato G.
Lapid, should have the privilege, not only because of his diligence in
being the first to apply for this certificate of public convenience,
but also because he is in a better position than the other applicant,
inasmuch as he has been engaged for sometime in the installation and
management of the ice business in several provinces of the Island of
Luzon, and at present he has another ice plant operating in the
municipality of Paranaque, Rizal. And it denied the application of
Zosimo Rojas and likewise dismissed the opposition interposed by the
San Miguel Brewery for lack of ground.
The oppositor, San Miguel Brewery, appealed from this resolution,
and now alleges that the Public Service Commission erred in ordering
the issuance of a certificate of public convenience in favor of
Fortunato G. Lapid to operate an ice plant in the municipality of
Cavite, Cavite, there being no evidence before the commission to
reasonably support said order, and this constitutes a violation of the
rights previously acquired by the appellant; and that the Public
Service Commission erred in denying the motion for a new trial.
The other applicant Zosimo Rojas did not appeal.
The question raised in this appeal resolves itself into a
determination as to whether or not there was evidence before the
commission to reasonably support its appealed order, or whether the
same was entered in excess of the jurisdiction of the commission. The
power of this court to review the appealed order is provided in section
35 of Act No. 3108, as interpreted in Philippine Shipowner’s
Association i?s. Public Utility Commissioner and Board of Appeal (43
Phil., 328), and in Ynchausti Steamship Co. vs. Public
Utility Commissioner and Board of Appeal (44 Phil., 363). In the case
of the Philippine Shipowners’ Association, it was said that the only
power which this court has is to set aside the order when it appears
that there was not sufficient evidence to support said order; and in
Ynchausti Steamship Co., it was held that: where, after a full hearing
the Public Utility Commissioner makes findings of fact, and there is a
material conflict in the evidence, such findings will not be disturbed
when they are reasonably supported by the testimony. In this same case,
the court said that the trend of modern legislation is to vest the
Public Utility Commissioner with the power to regulate and control the
operation of public utilities under reasonable rules and regulations,
and, as a general rule, the court will not interfere with the exercise
of that discretion when it is just and reasonable and based upon a
legal right.
In the present case, considering the agreement between the parties
to the effect that the evidence introduced in case No. 16564 shall be
considered as the evidence for the opposition in case No. 17235, and
vice versa, it appears that evidence has been introduced before the
commission on the consumption of ice and on the needs of the town of
Cavite; that according to said evidence, in Cavite alone there are 22
restaurants, 16 bars, 32 refreshment parlors and 3 cabarets, and all
these establishments, open to the public, use ice for the consumption
of their customers; that the consumption of ice in the municipality of
Cavite and in the other municipalities of the province reaches
approximately 46.9 blocks a day of 181 kilos per block; that the cost
of ice sold by the agents of the San Miguel Brewery in the different
municipalities of Cavite is much higher than two centavos per kilo when
sold at said factory and two and one-half centavos for home delivery,
for which the said applicant Fortunato G. Lapid binds himself to sell.
In view of the foregoing, we are of the opinion that the order of
the commission, granting the permit to the applicant Lapid, is
reasonably supported by the evidence. And this being the case, there is
no reason to reverse the resolution of the commission because, as was
said in the case of Dauner vs. Unson (G. R. No. 28957),[1]
decided by the second division, in reviewing orders of this character,
it must be remembered that this court is not required to examine the
proof de novo and determine for itself whether or not the preponderance
of the evidence really justifies the order made by the lower court. Our
function is to determine whether there was evidence before the
commission upon which the finding of said court might reasonably be
based.
Although we can conceive that the San Miguel Brewery is able to
supply ice for the consumption of the whole Province of Cavite, the
fact, however, is that said company does not really operate in that
province under a certificate issued by the Public Service Commission,
Said establishment operates its ice factory in the City of Manila and
sells its ice in the Province of Cavite through its agents. Said agents
or dealers in ice are not subject to the rules which the commission may
prescribe as to the price for which they sell this article to the
consumers, and naturally they have to fix a higher price in view of the
waste of the ice from the time it is taken from the factory and the
cost of transportation, expenses which, in the last analysis, the
consumer has to pay.
The commission, in view of the evidence presented before it and of
the fact that the consumers could obtain ice at a much lower price
under the certificate to be issued in favor of the applicant Fortunato
G. Lapid, deemed it convenient for the inhabitants of the municipality
of Cavite and of the other municipalities of the province to have an
ice plant in that locality. And although we may concede the great
facilities which the San Miguel Brewery has for sending its ice to the
Province of Cavite, nevertheless, we do not believe it justified in the
present case to substitute our judgment for that of the Public Service
Commission, the power of the court being limited to reviewing its order
and to see whether or not there is evidence in the case which
reasonably supports the issuance of said order.
The appellant has invoked the doctrine laid down in the case of Batangas Transportation Co. vs.
Orlanes (52 Phil., 455). We believe that the doctrine enunciated
therein is not applicable to the present case, for the reason that the
oppositor, San Miguel Brewery, is not a company which operates an ice
plant in Cavite under a certificate issued by the Public Service
Commission, but only sends its ice to several municipalities of that
province through agents who sell this article to the consumers without
being subject to any rule of the commission as to the price.
By virtue of the foregoing, the order appealed from is hereby affirmed, with the costs against the appellant. So ordered.
Avanceña, C. J., Johnson, Street, Romualdez, and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.
Johns, J., dissents.
[1] Promulgated September 29, 1928, not reported.