THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Regional Office 3 has been ordered by the Commission on Audit to pay the P2,377,294 claim of unpaid equipment rental filed by JAD Builders, a supplier of heavy equipment.
In a 20-page decision, the COA en banc affirmed its May 22, 2019 ruling that granted the contractor’s petition to enforce the 2012 judgment rendered by the Malolos Regional Trial Court, which was not appealed by the DPWH.
The obligation has been unpaid for 30 years.
Records showed JAD Builders was tapped by the DPWH RO3 to provide 12 dump trucks, four payloaders, and four bulldozers needed for the emergency reconstruction of the Gugu Dike – Manibaug-Libutad Section in Porac, Pampanga, in 1995.
The project was initiated by the DPWH to control the flow of lahar that would descend the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo.
The DPWH RO3 entered into a Contract of Lease of Equipment with the petitioner, but the contract was not approved by authorized DPWH officials and the DPWH Accountant refused to sign the Certificate of Availability of Funds (CAF).
Unable to collect on its billings, JAD Builders filed a case at the Malolos RTC for specific performance with damages on February 28, 2003 which it won when the local court issued a decision dated February 6, 2012 ordering DPWH to pay petitioner the principal amount of P2,377,294.48 plus six percent interest per annum from the date of filing the complaint until the full payment.
As neither of the parties appealed the decision, it became final and executory.
The COA en banc held that aside from the payment of the principal amount of P2.38 million, JAD Builders is also entitled to receive interest on the claim at six percent per year until the obligation is fully satisfied, as well as P50,000 in attorney’s fees.
It sustained the claimant’s position that the RTC ruling, having attained finality in the absence of a challenge from the DPWH, has become unalterable.
“Applying the conceptual framework laid down in the Taisei Shimizu to this case, this Commission is bound to respect the final, immutable, and unalterable character of the RTC Decision dated February 6, 2012,” it added.
