SANTOS, JEWELLE ANN LOU P.

2009-31291 PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW

HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION V. JACK ROBERT SHERMAN, DEODATO RELOJ AND THE INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT G.R. No. 72494 August 11, 1989 FACTS The petition alleged the following: - Complaint for collection of sum of money was filed by the bank against the private respondents before the RTC of Quezon City - Sometime in 1981, Eastern Book Supply Service PTE, Ltd was granted by the bank an overdraft facility in the max amount of S$200,000.00; private respondents, whom were directors of the company, executed a Joint and Several Guarantee whereby private respondents agreed to pay, jointly and severally - All liabilities shall be determined and construed in accordance with the Singaporean laws: (14) This guarantee and all rights, obligations and liabilites arising hereunder shall be construed and determined under and may be enforced in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Singapore. We hereby agree that the Courts in Singapore shall have jurisdiction over all disputes arising under this guarantee. ... - The company failed to pay its obligation - Complaint for collection of sum of money was filed by the bank against the private respondents before the RTC of Quezon City - Private respondents filed a motion to dismiss before the RTC which was later denied - The Court of Appeals granted the respondents petition for prohibition with preliminary injunction ISSUE Whether or not Philippine courts have jurisdiction over the suit HELD As per Neville Y. Lamis Ents., et al. v. Lagamon, etc., et al. (1981), Anent the claim that Davao City had been stipulated as the venue, suffice it to say that a stipulation as to venue does not preclude the filing of suits in the residence of plaintiff or defendant under Section 2 (b), Rule 4, Rules of Court, in the absence of qualifying or restrictive words in the agreement which would indicate that the place named is the only venue agreed upon by the parties Applying the foregoing to the case at bar, the parties did not thereby stipulate that only the courts of Singapore, to the exclusion of all the rest, has jurisdiction. Neither did the clause in question operate to divest Philippine courts of jurisdiction. The decision of the respondent court was reversed. ***** SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES v COURT OF APPEALS, MILAGROS P. MORADA and HON. RODOLFO A ORTIZ, in his capacity as Presiding Judge of Branch 89, RTC of Quezon City G.R. No. 122191 October 8, 1998 FACTS The petition alleged the following: - On January 21, 1988, SAUDIA hired private plaintiff as Flight Attendant - On April 27, 1990, an Indonesian crew member named Thamer Al-Gazzawi attempted to rape plaintiff and Allah Al-Gazzawi was also arrested as accomplice - The Indonesian authorities agreed to deport the two after two weeks of detention

SANTOS, JEWELLE ANN LOU P. 2009-31291 PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW

On January 14, 1992, her superiors requested her to see Mr Ali Meniewy, Chief Legal Officer of SAUDIA in Jeddah; the police pressured her to make a statement dropping the case On June 16, 1993, plaintiff was ordered to take a flight to Jeddah and she was brought to Saudi court and forced to sign a document written in Arabica notice to her to appear before the court on June 27, 1993 On June 28, 1993, a Saudi judge interrogated plaintiff and subsequently forbidden her to take flight On July 3, 1993, Saudi judge rendered her a decision guilty of (1) adultery; (2) going to a disco, dancing and listening to the music in violation of Islamic laws; and (3) socializing with the male crew, in contravention of Islamic tradition; and sentenced five months imprisonment and 286 lashes. Prince of Makkah dismissed the case against her but she was subsequently terminated from service by SAUDIA On November 23, 1993, Morada filed a complaint for damages and SAUDIA filed a Omnibus Motion to Dismiss Respondent judge issued order denying motion for reconsideration of SAUDIA Court of Appeals denied SAUDIAs Petition for the Issuance of a Writ of Preliminary Injunction and ruled the Philippines is an appropriate forum considering that the Amended Complaints basis for basis for recovery of damages

ISSUES Whether what law is applicable to the case at hand HELD To enable the forum to select the proper law, characterization or the doctrine of qualification is the process of deciding whether or not the facts relate to the kind of question specified in a conflicts rule. The test factors or points of contact or connecting factors could be any of the following: (1) The nationality of a person, his domicile, his residence, his place of sojourn, or his origin; (2) the seat of a legal or juridical person, such as a corporation; (3) the situs of a thing, that is, the place where a thing is, or is deemed to be situated. In particular, the lex situs is decisive when real rights are involved; (4) the place where an act has been done, the locus actus, such as the place where a contract has been made, a marriage celebrated, a will signed or a tort committed. Thelex loci actus is particularly important in contracts and torts; (5) the place where an act is intended to come into effect, e.g., the place of performance of contractual duties, or the place where a power of attorney is to be exercised; (6) the intention of the contracting parties as to the law that should govern their agreement, thelex loci intentionis; (7) the place where judicial or administrative proceedings are instituted or done. (8) the flag of a ship, which in many cases is decisive of practically all legal relationships of the ship and of its master or owner as such. It also covers contractual relationships particularly contracts of affreightment. Applying the torts principle in a conflicts case, it was asserted by the court that the Philippines could be said as a situs of the tort (the place where the alleged tortious conduct took place), thus have the paramount application to and control in the resolution of the legal issues arising out of this case. The court decided to dismiss the instant petition for certiorari and the case remanded to RTC for further proceedings