MINDORO TRANSPORTATION CO., INC., PETITIONER, VS. JOSE T. TORCUATOR, RESPONDENT.

Of the twenty-five (25): auto-trucks for the five (5) routes applied for, the
Public Service Commission, in its decision in its Case No. 130011, approved, on
certain conditions, six (6) auto-trucks for three (3) routes in Oriental
Mindoro, as follows:

San Agustin-Calapan Pier, 2 buses
Victoria-Calapan Pier, 2 buses, and

Apiton (Naujan)-Calapan Pier, 2 buses,

in favor of the applicant,Jose
T. Torcuator. The application for the lines San Jose-Calapan Pier and
Pasi-Calapan. Pier via Siloriay was denied because the routes are not passable
due to the destruction of the Magasawang Sapa and Silonay bridges.
Notwithstanding, the grant is opposed by the present petitioner, Mindoro.
Transportation Co., Inc., on the ground that, in accordance with the evidence
presented, the grantee is financially incapable of establishing, maintaining,
and operating the service, and that there exists a sufficient, efficient, and
adequate servjee rendered by the herein petitioner and other operator’s over the
approved lines.

The reception of the evidence for the applicant (herein respondent) was taken
by deposition before the Justice of the Peace of Naujan, Mindoro Oriental, who
was duly designated by the Public Service Commission without objection on the
part of the oppositor (herein petitioner), while the latter’s evidence was
received before the Commission in Manila.

Through five (5) witnesses, who are all residents of the province of Oriental
Mindoro, the applicant established the following:

On the San Agustin-Calapan Pier route: This line covers a distance of
forty-two (42) kilometers without actual TPU service, passengers consisting
mostly of merchants, students, farmers, and businessmen. Due to lack of adequate
transportation service, “colorum” jitneys are rampant, and one has to wait for
an hour and a half to board a buss of the oppositor at Sampaloc for Calapan,
after he has to walk six kilometers from Balansig to San Agustin, and take a
“colorum” jitney from the latter to Sampaloc. Along the line are fishponds,
coconut plantations, and the Butas Fisheries.

On the Victoria-Calapan Pier route: It covers a distance of around
thirty-three (33) kilometers without actual direct PUB service, passengers
consisting mostly of student, laborers, merchants, businessmen, and market and
churchgoers. To take the trip between these points, one has to go down at
Barcenaga and walk fourteen (14) kilometers up to Apitong. Buses passing
Barcenaga are bound for Bongabon, Mansalay, Roxas, and Naujan; homesteaders
abound along the way, and almost all the buses that pass are filled up to
seating capacity, and some passengers hang at the sides of the buses. “Colorum”
jitneys are likewise rampant.

On the Apiton-Calapan Pier route: It covers a distance of around forty-five
(45) kilometers, also without direct TPU service, passengers consisting of
people of different walks of life. One has to wait for more than an hour to
board a bus from Calapan Pier to Babangonan and thence walk for sixteen (16)
kilometers to Victoria. Along the route, which is thickly populated, are
sawmills, agricultural farms, and the Mindoro Agricultural School.

The oppositor, Mindoro Transportation. Co., Inc., presented a lone witness,
its own traffic manager, who tried to disprove the foregoing facts.

In finding that the existing authorized transportation service is inadequate,
the Public Service Commission correctly appreciated the evidence; and it is a
gratuitous assertion to state that it erred in, much less abused, its
discretion. It is not difficult, and in fact easy, to weigh the testimony of a
single witness whose bias, for being the oppositor’s own traffic manager, is
apparent, as against the unimpeached testimonies of the five (5) witnesses for
the applicant.

The financial capability of the applicant is, likewise, supported by the
evidence through his oral testimony that he has two (2) trucks valued at
P19.000.00 ready for immediate operation, three (3) trucks for which P20,000.00
has been spent and under assembly in Manila, a tentative reservation for the
purchase of eight (8) trucks with the Manila Trading Co., P10,000.00 in cash on
hand, a credit line of P40,000.00, and a monthly income of P300.00 derived from
his law practice.

The oppositor attacks applicant’s financial capacity on the basis of a
certificate by the city treasurer that there is no real property of the
applicant for taxation purposes in Quezon City, where the applicant is a new
resident; but the record discloses that the apartment house in said city, from
which said applicant claimed to derive additional monthly income of P360.00 by
way of rentals, is conjugal property. The non-presentation of the deeds of sale
of the trucks purchased by the applicant assumes no significance, not only
because the Public Service Commission is not bound by the technical rules of
evidence (Sec. 29, CA No. 146; Redi Taxi, Inc. vs. A. D. Santos, et al.,
L-12264, May 29, 1959) but also because in its decision, it has made it a
condition for the certificate of public convenience, among others, that the
“Applicant shall register in his name with the Motor Vehicles Office * *
* the six (6) buses * * * within 30 days * * *.” (Italics supplied) Unless the
registration is made, (appellant) will not be entitled to operate.

In view of the foregoing, the decision under review is hereby affirmed, with
costs against the petitioner,

Bengzon, C. J., Padilla, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Barrera,
Paredes, Dizon, Regala and Makalintal, JJ., concur.