The scandal that rocked the Supreme Court during the impeachment proceedings involving the then Chief Justice Renato Corona has yet to be erased from the public’s mind but it appears that it is again gearing itself for another controversy. This time, the issue that threatens to mar the image of this imposing institution is its obvious indecisiveness in a case pertaining to an Insurance Liability Claim in the amount of P 329 Million lodged by Pioneer Insurance and Surety Corporation against Keppel Cebu Shipyard Inc. The case stemmed from the accidental burning of a WG&A Superferry ship in February 2000. It is the contention of Pioneer that there was extreme negligence on the part of Keppel through its personnel who performed repairs works on the said ship which caused its subsequent burning.
Because of the incurred damage to the ship and being the insurer, Pioneer had to pay WG&A P 360 Million. Pioneer has since been running after Keppel since the root cause of the burning has been blamed on Keppel personnel. Keppel maintains however that its liability is only up to P 50 Million which is the amount stated in its repair agreement entered into with WG&A.
The failure of Pioneer and Keppel to come into terms through a mutually acceptable agreement eventually brought the case to the Supreme Court, five years after the burning of the ship. The Supreme Court came out with its decision in September 2009; two years after the case reached its jurisdiction. The decision was for Keppel to pay Pioneer the amount of P 329,747,351 with specified interest.
Keppel filed a motion for reconsideration twice which were both denied. The decision of the Supreme Court has been entered into the Book of Entries of Judgment which essentially means that it has become final and executory. In simple terms, the decision is no longer open to challenge.
It comes as a surprise therefore that the Supreme Court has overturned its own decision by opting to reopen the case after the fact that it has been declared final and executory. This is also after the fact that two previous similar petitions were denied. What exactly does this kind of scenario mean?
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i’m not sure, too. but with money, anything is possible…even the impossible. 😉
what is happening to the supreme court?
I have the same question Peachy
Something fishy is going on around here. The Supreme Court has some explaining to do.
final and executory yet they re-opened it? it could either mean two things… money or politics…
The justice system is a bit slow on our end and also has some loopholes. They should address this to add credibility into the system.
wow, what is happening? this decision from the supreme court is confusing :s
There’s just so much drama going on in the SC nowadays that their stories can be compared to the ongoing teleseryes of the major networks.
What’s happening??? Money talks? Politics? or is it real justice??!! Wake up wake up!
It’s hard to resolve the kind of case here in our country because of the very slow justice system.
The time that has passed from incident to court “resolution” is way too much, in my opinion. Sigh..
As usual something’s up and the innocent will really get “killed”.
i guess they can do whatever they wanted to do since they are the highest in position regarding our legal system. Just i hope they indeed have a probable cause to reopen the case.
This problem with our judicial system is apparently incurable. Many have grown helplessness especially when you’re innocent in a crime filed against you.
The Supreme Court should be the primary government office that is for the benefit of the people.
There might be reasons why they opened the case again and the reasons are left inside and closed to public. Well, they’re going to say something (just to cover up things — the real intentions).
that is so frustrating about our Supreme Court.. if it is final and executory it must be it! but it seems like there’s a lot of going on in our justice system….
This is no longer surprising to me. Despite the fact that the decision is final, the case can always be re-opened depending on the situation. Would you know if there were no evidences submitted? I think that’s one of the reasons why a case could be up for review and hearing. It would really be difficult to make a final stand if we don’t know the details of this case.
The power of money and influence always seem to get in the picture of just about every decision the Supreme Court makes. =(
it’s the first time that I’ve heard from this. I’ve been away from watching the television lately and i agree with Alwin, it’s hard to take a stand without knowing the full story. But I do think that Justice here in our country is just so hard to get especially when you do not have enough money or influence 🙁
it seemed that the supreme court is no longer impartial in it’s decision… they are just making the peoples’ doubts stronger. Yahweh bless.