Republic of the Philippines they relented and directed the aircraft to land at

SUPREME COURT Zamboanga Airport, Zamboanga City for refueling. The

Manila aircraft landed at 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon of May
SECOND DIVISION 21, 1976 at Zamboanga Airport. When the plane began
G.R. No. L-55300 March 15, 1990 to taxi at the runway, it was met by two armored cars of
FRANKLIN G. GACAL and CORAZON M. GACAL, the latter the military with machine guns pointed at the plane,
assisted by her husband, FRANKLIN G. GACAL, petitioners, and it stopped there. The rebels thru its commander
vs. demanded that a DC-aircraft take them to Libya with
PHILIPPINE AIR LINES, INC., and THE HONORABLE PEDRO the President of the defendant company as hostage
SAMSON C. ANIMAS, in his capacity as PRESIDING JUDGE of and that they be given $375,000 and six (6) armalites,
the COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF SOUTH COTABATO, otherwise they will blow up the plane if their demands
BRANCH I, respondents. will not be met by the government and Philippine Air
Vicente A. Mirabueno for petitioners. Lines. Meanwhile, the passengers were not served any
Siguion Reyna, Montecillo & Ongsiako for private respondent. food nor water and it was only on May 23, a Sunday, at
about 1:00 o'clock in the afternoon that they were
PARAS, J.: served 1/4 slice of a sandwich and 1/10 cup of PAL
This is a, petition for review on certiorari of the decision of the Court of water. After that, relatives of the hijackers were allowed
First Instance of South Cotabato, Branch 1, *promulgated on August to board the plane but immediately after they alighted
26, 1980 dismissing three (3) consolidated cases for damages: Civil therefrom, an armored car bumped the stairs. That
Case No. 1701, Civil Case No. 1773 and Civil Case No. 1797 (Rollo, commenced the battle between the military and the
p. 35). hijackers which led ultimately to the liberation of the
The facts, as found by respondent court, are as follows: surviving crew and the passengers, with the final score
Plaintiffs Franklin G. Gacal and his wife, Corazon M. of ten (10) passengers and three (3) hijackers dead on
Gacal, Bonifacio S. Anislag and his wife, Mansueta L. the spot and three (3) hijackers captured.
Anislag, and the late Elma de Guzman, were then City Fiscal Franklin G. Gacal was unhurt. Mrs. Corazon
passengers boarding defendant's BAC 1-11 at Davao M. Gacal suffered injuries in the course of her jumping
Airport for a flight to Manila, not knowing that on the out of the plane when it was peppered with bullets by
same flight, Macalinog, Taurac Pendatum known as the army and after two (2) hand grenades exploded
Commander Zapata, Nasser Omar, Liling Pusuan inside the plane. She was hospitalized at General
Radia, Dimantong Dimarosing and Mike Randa, all of Santos Doctors Hospital, General Santos City, for two
Marawi City and members of the Moro National (2) days, spending P245.60 for hospital and medical
Liberation Front (MNLF), were their co-passengers, expenses, Assistant City Fiscal Bonifacio S. Anislag
three (3) armed with grenades, two (2) with .45 caliber also escaped unhurt but Mrs. Anislag suffered a
pistols, and one with a .22 caliber pistol. Ten (10) fracture at the radial bone of her left elbow for which
minutes after take off at about 2:30 in the afternoon, she was hospitalized and operated on at the San
the hijackers brandishing their respective firearms Pedro Hospital, Davao City, and therefore, at Davao
announced the hijacking of the aircraft and directed its Regional Hospital, Davao City, spending P4,500.00.
pilot to fly to Libya. With the pilot explaining to them Elma de Guzman died because of that battle. Hence,
especially to its leader, Commander Zapata, of the the action of damages instituted by the plaintiffs
inherent fuel limitations of the plane and that they are demanding the following damages, to wit:
not rated for international flights, the hijackers directed Civil Case No. 1701 —
the pilot to fly to Sabah. With the same explanation,
 City Fiscal Franklin G. Gacal and Mrs. Similarly, the negotiations with the hijackers were a purely
Corazon M. Gacal — actual damages: government matter and a military operation, handled by and subject to
P245.60 for hospital and medical the absolute and exclusive jurisdiction of the military authorities.
expenses of Mrs Gacal; P8,995.00 for Hence, it concluded that the accident that befell RP-C1161 was
their personal belongings which were caused by fortuitous event, force majeure and other causes beyond
lost and not recovered; P50,000.00 the control of the respondent Airline.
each for moral damages; and P5,000.00 The determinative issue in this case is whether or not hijacking or air
for attorney's fees, apart from the prayer piracy during martial law and under the circumstances obtaining
for an award of exemplary damages herein, is a caso fortuito or force majeure which would exempt an
(Record, pp. 4-6, Civil Case No. 1701). aircraft from payment of damages to its passengers whose lives were
Civil Case No. 1773 — put in jeopardy and whose personal belongings were lost during the
xxx xxx xxx incident.
Civil Case No. 1797 — Under the Civil Code, common carriers are required to exercise
xxx xxx xxx extraordinary diligence in their vigilance over the goods and for the
The trial court, on August 26, 1980, dismissed the complaints finding safety of passengers transported by them, according to all the
that all the damages sustained in the premises were attributed circumstances of each case (Article 1733). They are presumed at fault
to force majeure. or to have acted negligently whenever a passenger dies or is injured
On September 12, 1980 the spouses Franklin G. Gacal and Corazon (Philippine Airlines, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Commission, 124
M. Gacal, plaintiffs in Civil Case No. 1701, filed a notice of appeal with SCRA 583 [1983]) or for the loss, destruction or deterioration of goods
the lower court on pure questions of law (Rollo, p. 55) and the petition in cases other than those enumerated in Article 1734 of the Civil Code
for review on certiorari was filed with this Court on October 20, 1980 (Eastern Shipping Lines, Inc. v. Intermediate Appellate Court, 150
(Rollo, p. 30). SCRA 463 [1987]).
The Court gave due course to the petition (Rollo, p. 147) and both The source of a common carrier's legal liability is the contract of
parties filed their respective briefs but petitioner failed to file reply brief carriage, and by entering into said contract, it binds itself to carry the
which was noted by the Court in the resolution dated May 3, 1982 passengers safely as far as human care and foresight can provide.
(Rollo, p. 183). There is breach of this obligation if it fails to exert extraordinary
Petitioners alleged that the main cause of the unfortunate incident is diligence according to all the circumstances of the case in exercise of
the gross, wanton and inexcusable negligence of respondent Airline the utmost diligence of a very cautious person (Isaac v. Ammen
personnel in their failure to frisk the passengers adequately in order to Transportation Co., 101 Phil. 1046 [1957]; Juntilla v. Fontanar, 136
discover hidden weapons in the bodies of the six (6) hijackers. They SCRA 624 [1985]).
claimed that despite the prevalence of skyjacking, PAL did not use a It is the duty of a common carrier to overcome the presumption of
metal detector which is the most effective means of discovering negligence (Philippine National Railways v. Court of Appeals, 139
potential skyjackers among the passengers (Rollo, pp. 6-7). SCRA 87 [1985]) and it must be shown that the carrier had observed
Respondent Airline averred that in the performance of its obligation to the required extraordinary diligence of a very cautious person as far
safely transport passengers as far as human care and foresight can as human care and foresight can provide or that the accident was
provide, it has exercised the utmost diligence of a very cautious caused by a fortuitous event (Estrada v. Consolacion, 71 SCRA 523
person with due regard to all circumstances, but the security checks [1976]). Thus, as ruled by this Court, no person shall be responsible
and measures and surveillance precautions in all flights, including the for those "events which could not be foreseen or which though
inspection of baggages and cargo and frisking of passengers at the foreseen were inevitable. (Article 1174, Civil Code). The term is
Davao Airport were performed and rendered solely by military synonymous with caso fortuito (Lasam v. Smith, 45 Phil. 657 [1924])
personnel who under appropriate authority had assumed exclusive which is of the same sense as "force majeure" (Words and Phrases
jurisdiction over the same in all airports in the Philippines. Permanent Edition, Vol. 17, p. 362).
In order to constitute a caso fortuito or force majeure that would faulted with negligence in the performance of duty taken over by the
exempt a person from liability under Article 1174 of the Civil Code, it is Armed Forces of the Philippines to the exclusion of the former.
necessary that the following elements must concur: (a) the cause of Finally, there is no dispute that the fourth element has also been
the breach of the obligation must be independent of the human will satisfied. Consequently the existence of force majeure has been
(the will of the debtor or the obligor); (b) the event must be either established exempting respondent PAL from the payment of damages
unforeseeable or unavoidable; (c) the event must be such as to to its passengers who suffered death or injuries in their persons and
render it impossible for the debtor to fulfill his obligation in a normal for loss of their baggages.
manner; and (d) the debtor must be free from any participation in, or PREMISES CONSIDERED, the petition is hereby DISMISSED for
aggravation of the injury to the creditor (Lasam v. Smith, 45 Phil. 657 lack of merit and the decision of the Court of First Instance of South
[1924]; Austria v. Court of Appeals, 39 SCRA 527 [1971]; Estrada v. Cotabato, Branch I is hereby AFFIRMED.
Consolacion, supra; Vasquez v. Court of Appeals, 138 SCRA 553 SO ORDERED.
[1985]; Juan F. Nakpil & Sons v. Court of Appeals, 144 SCRA 596
[1986]). Caso fortuito or force majeure, by definition, are extraordinary
events not foreseeable or avoidable, events that could not be
foreseen, or which, though foreseen, are inevitable. It is, therefore, not
enough that the event should not have been foreseen or anticipated,
as is commonly believed, but it must be one impossible to foresee or
to avoid. The mere difficulty to foresee the happening is not
impossibility to foresee the same (Republic v. Luzon Stevedoring
Corporation, 21 SCRA 279 [1967]).
Applying the above guidelines to the case at bar, the failure to
transport petitioners safely from Davao to Manila was due to the
skyjacking incident staged by six (6) passengers of the same plane,
all members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), without
any connection with private respondent, hence, independent of the
will of either the PAL or of its passengers.
Under normal circumstances, PAL might have foreseen the skyjacking
incident which could have been avoided had there been a more
thorough frisking of passengers and inspection of baggages as
authorized by R.A. No. 6235. But the incident in question occurred
during Martial Law where there was a military take-over of airport
security including the frisking of passengers and the inspection of their
luggage preparatory to boarding domestic and international flights. In
fact military take-over was specifically announced on October 20,
1973 by General Jose L. Rancudo, Commanding General of the
Philippine Air Force in a letter to Brig. Gen. Jesus Singson, then
Director of the Civil Aeronautics Administration (Rollo, pp. 71-72) later
confirmed shortly before the hijacking incident of May 21, 1976 by
Letter of Instruction No. 399 issued on April 28, 1976 (Rollo, p. 72).
Otherwise stated, these events rendered it impossible for PAL to
perform its obligations in a nominal manner and obviously it cannot be