OSCAR LAGMAN AND ROBERTO ANGELES, PLAINTIFFS AND APPELLEES, VS. INVESTMENT PLANNING CORPORATION OF THE PHILIPPINES, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

The facts, as found by the lower court, are:

“This is an action for collection of unpaid balance
of the first prize won by plaintiff Oscar Lagman with damages. It
appears that in a contest drive conducted by defendant from March 28 to
June 26, 1959, plaintiff won the first prize which under the rules of
the contest were; (1) Two (2) round trip tickets to Hongkong; (2)
Seven-day stay at a swanky Hongkong Hotel with room accommodations paid
for; and (3) An honorary plaque and a place of honor at the
presidential table (Exh. 2-a). The third item has been complied with
and is not in issue. The question hinges on whether or not there was a
complete compliance-by defendant of the first two items.

“Plaintiff
Ocsar Lagman testified in substance that four daya after he won the
first prize of the July 4th drive, he demanded from Mr. Alex Gonzalez,
Director of Sales Department of defendant corporation, his prizes; that
Mr. domiciles referred him to the Travel Guide Agency which had been
commissioned to procure the two round trip tickets for plaintiff
alleging that defendant was too busy to attend to the matter; that the
Travel Guide Agency failed to secure the approval of the Central Bank
on the matter; so Mr. Gonzales sent a communication to the Central Bank
which was denied; that subsequent request for reconsideration sent by
Mr. Gonzales. and by Dr. Wellington Koo, President of the corporation,
met fine same fate; that, the fifth letter on reconsideration dated
August 12, 1959 (Exhibit 15), was finally approved on September 3, 1959
by the ‘Central Bank on condition that the trip would be ‘via Prepaid
basis’ (Exh. 15-A), that is, the fare would be payable in Hongkong
dollars; that on September 2, 1959, the defendant remitted the sum of
P540 for two tickets including Central Bank fees to the Tourist World
Service (Exhibit 4); that out of the said amount, the Tourist World
Service delivered P50.00 to Oscar Lagman who paid it to the Central
Bank for the licenses’ (Exhibit B), but the balance of P490.00 was not
sufficient to pay for the “two tickets; that upon suggestion and
authority of Mr. Gonzalez, Lagman surveyed the different travel
agencies which quoted the price of the round-trip ticket to Hongkong at
HK$667, equivalent to P496.00 payable in Manila; that upon being
informed thereof, Mr. Gonzalez told Lagman to procure the tickets
giving him in addition to P490 (P540-P50) another check of P840.00 on
September 4, 1959 (Exhibit 3), for hotel accommodations for seven-day
stay for two persons at the rate of P60.00 one person per day; that
after cashing the second check” and following instructiong of Mr.
Gonzalez to use the money first for other items, defendant to reimburse
whatever deficit might be incurred, paid P496 for one round trip
ticket, P15.00 exchange tax, P35.00 for visa fees, P110.00 passport
fees; P140.00 expenses in negotiating the approval by the Central Bank
and purchasing of tickets for five weeks, P20 aside from P50.00 for
Central Bank fees above-mentioned, of a total of P866.00; that not
having enough money left with which to purchase the other ticket for
his companion and for hotel accommodation in Hongkong, Lagman
approached Mr. Gonzalez who refused to give more money until he has
consuited first with Dr. Koo; that despite such attitude of defendant,
he proceeded to Hongkong on September 12, 1959, stayed there ten days
and returned here on September 22, 1959; that he is charging only for
hotel accommodation s for P840 for seven days as per agreement between
the parties as contained in Exhibits 1 and 3. He denied, however,
having; required at any time by defendant to submit receipts for hotel
accommodations in Hongkong. He testified further that he left Mr.
Roberto Angeles behind because of insufficiency of funds given to him
and due to such non-compliance with defendant’s commitment, plaintiff
Lag- man suffered moral damages.

“* * * as shown above,
Lagman already spent P866,00 out of the P1380 received by him, thus
leaving a balance of P514. It appears, however, that the cost of hotel
accommodations as agreed between the parties in Exhibits 1 and 3 is
P840.00, the cost of the other round trip tickets for Mr. Angeles is
P496 plus P15.00 for exchange tax; P110 for passport fees and P35.00
for visa fees or a total of P1,496.00 hence the balance of P514.00 is
still short of P982.00 which is due plaintiff Oscar Lagman, None of the
items claimed by Mr. Lagman thus enumerated has been rebutted by
defendant or shown to be unjustified and unreasonable. They were
clearly incidental expenses and clearly included as part of the first
prize won by plaintiff Lagman. * * *”

On the basis of this finding, the court ordered defendant to pay
plaintiff Lagman the sum of P982, plus attorney’s fees in the amount of
P400.00.

Indeed, on page 7 of its brief, defendant states that it is
appealing “on questions of law and, of fact.” This appeal, therefore,
should have been brought to the Court of Appeals.

Furthermore, as shown in the findings of fact of the Court of First Instance, the amount involved does not exceed P200,000.00.

WHEREFORE, this case is hereby remanded to the Court of Appeals.

Bengzon, C. J., Padilla, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepción,
Reyes, J. B. L., Barrera, Paredes, Dizon and Makalintal, JJ., concur.