26 United Overseas Bank vs. Ros, Et Al., G.R. No. 171532, August 7, 2007
26 United Overseas Bank vs. Ros, Et Al., G.R. No. 171532, August 7, 2007
ISSUE: WHETHER OR NOT THE FAILURE OF THE PRIVATE RESPONDENT TO PAY THE DOCKET FEES
WARRANTS THE DISMISSAL OF THE INSTANT CASE.
HELD:
No. The Court explained that where the party does not deliberately intend to defraud the court in
payment of docket fees, and manifests its willingness to abide by the rules by paying additional docket
fees when required by the court, the liberal doctrine enunciated in Sun Insurance Office, Ltd., and not
the strict regulations set in Manchester, will apply. It has been on record that the Court, in several
instances, allowed the relaxation of the rule on non-payment of docket fees in order to afford the
parties the opportunity to fully ventilate their cases on the merits.
In the case at bar, it was not shown that the private respondent, in failing to state the exact amount of
damages it was claiming in its Second Amended Complaint intended to defraud the court of the docket
fees due. In the first place, upon filing of the original Complaint, the private respondent paid docket fees
in the amount of P42,000.00. Clearly, the circumstances attendant in Manchester, that prompted this
Court to dismiss the case then before it, are wanting herein.
In Manchester v. Court of Appeals, it was held that a court acquires jurisdiction over any case only upon
the payment of the prescribed docket fee. The strict application of this rule was, however, relaxed two
(2) years after in the case of Sun Insurance Office, Ltd. v. Asuncion, 252 Phil. 280 (1989), wherein the
Court decreed that where the initiatory pleading is not accompanied by the payment of the docket fee,
the court may allow payment of the fee within a reasonable period of time, but in no case beyond the
applicable prescriptive or reglementary period. This ruling was made on the premise that the plaintiff
had demonstrated his willingness to abide by the rules by paying the additional docket fees required.
(Id. at 291.)