WING ON COMPANY V.

SYYAP
-Wing On Company incorporated in NY
-Syyap Co., Inc. incorporated in RP
-contract entered in NY:
for the purchase of clothing material, w/ verbal agreement that Syyap would pay
Wing On the value of the clothing material, then after the sale, the profits would be
divided between them
-clothing materials worth $22,246.04 shipped from NY to RP
-only $3,530.04 paid. Syyap failed to settle debt and account for profits.
-Wing On Company sued Syyap in RP.
TC: for Wing On
Arguments of Syyap:
(1) no jurisdiction: Wing On is not licensed to do business in RP, no legal capacity
to sue
(2) should have declined jurisdiction: forum non conveniens
HELD
Affirm!
On Forum non Conveniens
WHEN COURT WOULD DECLINE JURISDICTION BASED ON FOUM NON
CONVENIENS
-Unless the balance is strongly in favor of the defendant, the plaintiff's choice of
forum should rarely be disturbed
-Consideration of inadequacy to enforce the judgment
HERE: Defendant in the Philippines. So for the court to assume jurisdiction over the
person of the defendant, RP Court is the convenient forum.
-the present suit is a PERSONAL ACTION, the case may be commenced and tried
where the defendant resides or may be found, or where the plaintiff resides, at the
election of the plaintif.
Summary: should consider both public and private interests
Private interests:
*relative ease of access to source of proof
*Availability of compulsory process for attendance of unwilling witnesses
*cost of obtaining and attendance off willing witnesses
*possibility of viewing the premises if appropriate
*all other practical problems that make trial of a case easy, expeditious, and
inexpensive
Public Interest
*administrative difficulties encountered when courts are congested
*jury duty: burden on community
*appropriateness of having the trial in a court that is familiar with the applicable
state law rather than getting another forum enmeshed in a complicated conflict-oflaws problem
WHEN CAN'T REFUSE TO EXERCISE JURISDICTION:
*when the forum is the only state where jurisdiction over defendant can be
obtained
*when the forum provides procedural remedies not available in another state
2.ASSUME JURISDICTION
GR: apply law of the forum
1.A specific law of the forum decrees that internal law should apply
Civil Code
Article 16: makes real and personal proerty subject to the law of the country
where they are situated
Intestate and testamentary succession: governed by lex nationale of the person

whose succession is under consideration

Article 829: makes revocation done outside the Philippines valid according to the
law of the place where the will was made or lex domicilli
Article 819: prohibits Filipinos from making joint wills even if valid in the country
where they were executed
2.The proper foreign law was not properly pleaded and proved
-no Judicial notice of foreign law
Relevant rules of evidence:
3.To prove written foreign law: follow requirements in Sec 24-25, Rule 132
4.May be subject of judicial admission
5.Processual presumption - no proof nor admission, foreign law presumed to be the same as that in the
Philippines

Rule 132
Section 19 - CLASSES OF DOCUMENTS
For the purpose of their presentation evidence,
documents are either public or private.
PUBLIC DOCUMENTS are:
a.The written official acts, or records of the official acts of the sovereign authority, official
bodies and tribunals, and public officers, whether of the Philippines, or of a foreign country;
b.Documents acknowledge before a notary public except last wills and testaments; and
c.Public records, kept in the Philippines, of private documents required by law to the entered
therein.
All other writings are PRIVATE.
Section 24 - PROOF OF OFFICIAL RECORD
The record of public documents referred to in paragraph (a) of Section 19,
when admissible for any purpose,
may be evidenced by an official publication thereof or
by a copy attested by the officer having the legal custody of the record, or by his deputy, and
accompanied, if the record is not kept in the Philippines,
with a certificate that such officer has the custody.
If the office in which the record is kept is in foreign country,
the certificate may be made by a secretary of the embassy or legation, consul general, consul, vice
consul, or consular agent or by any officer in the foreign service of the Philippines
stationed in the foreign country in which the record is kept,
and authenticated by the seal of his office.
Section 25 - WHAT ATTESTATION OF COPY MUST STATE
Whenever a copy of a document or record is attested
for the purpose of evidence,
the attestation must state, in substance,
that the copy is a correct copy of the original,
or a specific part thereof, as the case may be.
The attestation must be
under the official seal of the attesting officer, if there be any, or
if he be the clerk of a court having a seal, under the seal of such court.

To prove unwritten foreign law Sec 46, Rule 130

Section 46 - LEARNED TREATISES
A published treatise, periodical or pamphlet on a subject of history, law, science, or art is admissible
as tending to prove the truth of a matter stated therein if the court takes judicial notice, or a witness
expert in the subject testifies, that the writer of the statement in the treatise, periodical or pamphlet
is recognized in his profession or calling as expert in the subject.
6.Requisites:
a.The court takes judicial notice thereof
b.The same is testified to by a witness expert in the subject

7.CA took judicial notice of the Ballantyne Scale of Values[1]