This case has been cited 4 times or more.
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2007-11-23 |
NACHURA, J. |
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| On March 30, 1999, petitioner Nippon Engineering Consultants Co., Ltd. (Nippon), a Japanese consultancy firm providing technical and management support in the infrastructure projects of foreign governments,[3] entered into an Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA) with respondent Minoru Kitamura, a Japanese national permanently residing in the Philippines.[4] The agreement provides that respondent was to extend professional services to Nippon for a year starting on April 1, 1999.[5] Nippon then assigned respondent to work as the project manager of the Southern Tagalog Access Road (STAR) Project in the Philippines, following the company's consultancy contract with the Philippine Government.[6] | |||||
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2007-11-23 |
NACHURA, J. |
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| On June 29, 2000, the RTC, invoking our ruling in Insular Government v. Frank[14] that matters connected with the performance of contracts are regulated by the law prevailing at the place of performance,[15] denied the motion to dismiss.[16] The trial court subsequently denied petitioners' motion for reconsideration,[17] prompting them to file with the appellate court, on August 14, 2000, their first Petition for Certiorari under Rule 65 [docketed as CA-G.R. SP No. 60205].[18] On August 23, 2000, the CA resolved to dismiss the petition on procedural grounds for lack of statement of material dates and for insufficient verification and certification against forum shopping.[19] An Entry of Judgment was later issued by the appellate court on September 20, 2000.[20] | |||||
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2007-11-23 |
NACHURA, J. |
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| Aggrieved by this development, petitioners filed with the CA, on September 19, 2000, still within the reglementary period, a second Petition for Certiorari under Rule 65 already stating therein the material dates and attaching thereto the proper verification and certification. This second petition, which substantially raised the same issues as those in the first, was docketed as CA-G.R. SP No. 60827.[21] | |||||
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2007-11-23 |
NACHURA, J. |
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| Necessarily, because the said dismissal is without prejudice and has no res judicata effect, and even if petitioners still indicated in the verification and certification of the second certiorari petition that the first had already been dismissed on procedural grounds,[33] petitioners are no longer required by the Rules to indicate in their certification of non-forum shopping in the instant petition for review of the second certiorari petition, the status of the aforesaid first petition before the CA. In any case, an omission in the certificate of non-forum shopping about any event that will not constitute res judicata and litis pendentia, as in the present case, is not a fatal defect. It will not warrant the dismissal and nullification of the entire proceedings, considering that the evils sought to be prevented by the said certificate are no longer present.[34] | |||||