GLOBE-MACKAY CABLE & RADIO CORPORATION AND ERNESTO Q. TORREJOS, PETITIONERS, VS. GEORGE G. BARRIOS AND OLGA THERESA CRUZ-BARRIOS, RESPONDENTS.

Ordinarily, the Petition
for Review in this case would not merit being given due course because a close
scrutiny of its allegations, the Comment of respondents thereon, and the Reply
to said Comment shows that the issue of negligence involved is basically factual.  However, we resolved to give partial due
course in so far as the award of damages is concerned.

We agree that petitioner
cable company should be faulted for having failed to deliver to
respondent-spouses, both physicians, a cablegram from Mercy Hospi­tal, Buffalo,
New York, admitting respondent-wife for a rotating internship in said hospital,
as a conse­quence of which, she was unable to signify her accept­ance and the
position was given to someone else.  We
agree with the finding of both the Trial Court and the Appellate Court that
petitioner was grossly negligent in having admittedly failed to deliver the
cablegram, particularly considering that respondents had received another
telegram, identically addressed, delivered to them by Eastern Extension,
another cable company.  We also agree
with the finding that such failure caused respondents financial difficulties in
New York, due to loss of earnings for approximately six months, serious anxiety
and sleepless nights, for which petitioner should be held liable, and which
should be corrected for the public good. 
A tele­graph company is a public service corporation owing duties to the
general public and is liable to any member of the public to whom it owes a duty
for damages proximately flowing from a violation of that duty (Western U. Tel.
Co. vs. Ramsey, 88 SW 2d 675; Western Union Tel. Co. vs. Caldwell, 102 SW 840,
74 Am. Jur., p. 444).

We find, however the
award of damages made by the Trial Court and affirmed by the Court of Appeals
to be excessive.  The damages granted
were as follows:

“x x x

“1.  An amount in Philippine currency equivalent to
5,417 US dollars computed at the prevailing exchange rate on July 31, 1973, the
date when the complaint in the ins­tant case was filed, as actual damages;

2.    The amount of P50,000.00 as moral damages;

3.    The amount of P50,000.00 as exemplary
damages; and

4.    The amount of P10,000.00 for and as
attorney’s fees.

xxx    xxxx”

Taking into account the
facts and circumstances, that petitioner is a quasi-public corporation affec­ted
with public interest (Flynn vs. Western U. Teleg. Co. 225 NW 242; Western U.
Teleg. Co. vs. Cowin, 20 F 2d 103, 74 Am. Jur. 2d, p. 301), that respondents
would have had to incur living and sundry expenses, thereby reducing the net
earnings which they would have received (see Villa Rey Transit, Inc. vs. Court
of Appeals, et al., 31 SCRA 551 [1970]), and that re­spondent wife succeeded in
securing another better-paying job approximately six months afterwards, the
judgment should be modified by reducing the amounts granted.

ACCORDINGLY, the Decision appealed from is hereby modified
by reducing the award of:  a) actual
damages, to the equivalent of $2,703.00 in Philippine currency at the
prevailing exchange rate as of July 31, 1973; b) moral damages, to P5,000.00;
c) exemplary damages, to P5,000.00; and d) attorney’s fees, to P8,000.00. 
In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed.

No costs.

SO ORDERED.

Teehankee, (Chairman), Plana, Vasquez, Relova, and Gutierrez, Jr., JJ., concur.