This is  a petition for review of the decision rendered by the Public Service Commission dated 30 January 1956, granting Andresa Fuertes,  the  herein petitioner, a  certificate of public  convenience to  operate a 1-ton ice plant in the municipality  of  Nasipit, province of Agusan,  and to sell  the ice produced  in  Nasipit  and its neighboring towns, Carmen and  Buenavista, but  not in Butuan City where there  is already an authorized operator.   Not satisfied with the decision Andresa Fuertes has appealed claiming that the  decision has no reasonable support in evidence, and  that it  is contrary to  law.

The pertinent findings and pronouncement of the Public Service Commission are, as follows:

This is  a petition for  a certificate of public convenience to install, maintain and operate a 1-ton ice plant in Nasipit, Agusan, and to sell the ice  produced therein the Nasipit,  Buenavista,  Carmen and Butuan City,  on the ground that public  convenience  requires  the proposed plant.  A written  opposition  was filed by Flora Consing on the ground  that  she  operates a  5-ton plant in  Butuan City but at the hearing before the Justice of the Peace of Nasipit who was authorized  to receive the  depositions, no  appearance was entered by the oppositor and  neither was any evidence  presented  by her in  support  of her opposition.   

The evidence  shows that  applicant is a Filipino citizen and is financially qualified to operate the 1-ton plant proposed by her; that there is sufficient demand for ice which may be served by the 1-ton plant proposed  and  that  there is no ice plant in the  towns  of Nasipit, Buenavista and Carmen. Evidence was presented to show the need for allowing the  applicant to  send ice to Butuan City but we  do not find  this  evidence satisfactory  for  the  reason  that the testimony of applicant's witnesses as to  insufficient supply  of ice in that City is not  satisfactory some of them saying  that their testimony as to inadequacy of  supply of ice  was based  on what they heard  from  others.  At any rate we believe  that  the 1-ton plant should not be authorized  for a large territory because  of the limited  production and that we should not allow  the  service  of an ice plant from  one town  in  another town where there is already an  established  plant.  We find from  the evidence that applicant may be granted a certificate for a 1-ton  ice plant in Nasipit but with authority to  sell only in Nasipit, Carmen and  Buenavista but not in  Butuan  City  where  there is an authorized operator.

The only point to be decided in this case is whether the petitioner  may  be granted authority to  sell  her ice  in Butuan City where there is  already an authorized operator.

The testimony of petitioner's  witnesses,  Catalino Pizarro,  Teodoro  Ronquillo  and Purisima Vda. de Bausa, does not  show  satisfactorily that  the  service  of  Flora Consing's  5-ton  ice plant in Butuan  City is  irregular and unsatisfactory.  Asked whether or not the supply of  Flora Consing's  ice plant was adequate and  sufficient for the residents of Butuan City,  Catalino  Pizarro  answered:  "I do not know  if they  have enough  but  the  truth is that many  of us  are  being  supplied by  Mardoria's  ice  plant and there  are  many  others who are being supplied by the Mardoria's  ice plant;   *  *   * I cannot  state clearly whether they cannot supply the  sufficient  amount of  ice because  I  do not buy  from them."   The  testimony  of Teodoro  Ronquillo that he  had  been buying ice from Andresa  Fuertes  (the petitioner) since June 1954 because she had been selling her ice to him  and he liked her ice; and  that of  Purisima Vda. de  Bausa that  she had also been buying  ice  from Andresa  Fuertes since  1954; that she did not buy  from Flora Consing's ice plant  because her plant's production is insufficient, are not enough  to show that a  5-ton ice plant cannot supply the amount  of ice needed by the consuming public.

Significantly, the petitioner has weakened her case when she testified  that the population of the town  of Nasipit is 12,000 more or less; Buenavista, 12,000 more  or less; Carmen,  9,000 more or less; and Butuan City, 45,000 more or less;  that in  the towns  of  Nasipit,  Buenavista and Carmen there is no authorized ice plant operator, whereas in Butuan City  Flora Consing is operating a 5-ton ice plant;  that according to the information she had received from the residents of Butuan City the ice plant of Flora Consing  used to  have break downs,  and for that reason they bought ice from her.   If the total number of inhabitants  of the three towns where the  petitioner is authorized by the Public Service  Commission to sell her ice is true, then such  number  of inhabitants  would be more than what her 1-ton ice plant could  supply.  There would be no need for her to invade Butuan City where  there is already an authorized operator.

The  information that the petitioner had received from certain residents  of Butuan City as to the break downs  of Flora Consing's ice plant is hearsay.  But even  granting that there had been such break downs,  those were to  be expected in the normal operation of  any machine-run establishment.   In  the absence of  a showing that the supply of ice  to the general public was insufficient, such break downs  would not be a  justification for the petitioner's insistence on  invading the  territory of  another  operator whose  plant's production  is five times more, as  to cause the latter ruinous competition.

The decision  appealed from  is affirmed,  with  costs against the petitioner.

Paras, C. J., Bengzon,  Montemayor, Reyes, A., Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, and Endencia, JJ.,  concur.