Torio vs Fontanilla 85 SCRA 599

October 23, 1978

Facts:

The Municipal Council of Malasiqui, Pangasinan, passed Resolution No. 159 to manage the 1959 Malasiqui
town fiesta celebration The 1959 Malasiqui Town Fiesta Executive Committee was created, which, in
turn, organized a sub-committee on entertainment and stage. A zarzuela troupe, of which Vicente
Fontanilla was a member, arrived for their performance on January 22. During the zarzuela, the stage
collapsed and Fontanilla was pinned underneath. He was immediately hospitalized, but died the following
day. Fontanillas heirs filed a complaint to recover damages against the Municipality of Malasiqui, its
Municipal Council and all the Councils individual members. The municipality invoked inter alia the defense
that as a legally and duly organized public corporation it performs sovereign functions and the holding of a
town fiesta was an exercise of its governmental functions from which no liability can arise to answer for
the negligence of any of its agents. The councilors maintained that they merely acted as the municipalitys
agents in carrying out the municipal ordinance and as such they are likewise not liable for damages as the
undertaking was not one for profit; furthermore, they had exercised due care and diligence in
implementing the municipal ordinance.

After trial, the RTC dismisses the complaint, concluding that the Executive Committee had exercised due
diligence and care in selecting a competent man for the construction of the stage, and the collapse was due to
forces beyond the control of the committee. Consequently, the defendants were not liable for the death of
Vicente Fontanilla. Upon appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial courts decision and ordered all the
defendants-appellees to pay jointly and severally the heirs of Vicente Fontanilla the sums of P12,000.00 by way
of moral and actual damages:P1200.00 its attorneys fees; and the costs.

Issue: Whether or not the Municipality of Malasiqui may be held liable.

Held: Yes.

Under Philippine laws, municipalities are political bodies endowed with the faculties of municipal corporations
to be exercised by and through their respective municipal governments in conformity with law, and in their
proper corporate name, they may inter alia sue and be sued, and contract and be contracted with.
The powers of a municipality are two-fold in character: public, governmental or political on the one hand; and
corporate, private, or proprietary on the other. Governmental powers are those exercised by the corporation
in administering the powers of the state and promoting the public welfare. These include the legislative,
judicial public, and political. Municipal powers, on the other hand, are exercised for the special benefit and
advantage of the community. These include those which are ministerial, private and corporate.
This distinction of powers are necessary in determining the liability of the municipality for the acts of its agents
which result in injury to third persons. If the injury is caused in the course of the performance of a
governmental function/duty, no recovery can be had from the municipality unless there is an existing statute
on the matter, nor from its officers, so long as they performed their duties honestly and in good faith or that
they did not act wantonly and maliciously. With respect to proprietary functions, the settled rule is that a
municipal corporation can be held liable to third persons ex contract or ex delicto. They may also be subject to
suit upon contracts and its tort.

Page 1 of 1