ONG v. METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT (1958)
G.R. No. L-7664 August 29, 1958
MR. AND MRS. AMADOR C. ONG, plaintiffs-appellants, vs. METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT, defendant-appellee.
FACTS:
Defendant owns and operates three recreational swimming pools at its Balara filters, Diliman, Quezon City, to which people are invited and for which a nominal fee of P0.50 for adults and P0.20 for children is charged. The main pool it between two small pools of oval shape known as the "Wading pool" and the "Beginners Pool." There are diving boards in the big pools and the depths of the water at different parts are indicated by appropriate marks on the wall. The care and supervision of the pools and the users thereof is entrusted to a recreational section composed of Simeon Chongco as chief, Armando Rule, a male nurse, and six lifeguards who had taken the life-saving course given by the Philippine Red Cross at the YMCA in Manila.
In the afternoon of July 5, 1952, at about 1:00 o'clock, Dominador Ong, a 14-year old high school student and boy scout, and his brothers Ruben and Eusebio, went to defendant's swimming pools. This was not the first time that the three brothers had gone to said natatorium for they had already been there four or five times before. They arrived at the natatorium at about 1:45 p.m. After paying the requisite admission fee, they immediately went to one of the small pools where the water was shallow. At about 4:35 p.m., Dominador Ong told his brothers that he was going to the locker room in an adjoining building to drink a bottle of coke.
Upon hearing this, Ruben and Eusebio went to the bigger pool leaving Dominador in the small pool and so they did not see the latter when he left the pool to get a bottle of coke. In that afternoon, there were two lifeguards on duty in the pool compound, namely, Manuel Abaño and Mario Villanueva. The tour of duty of Abaño was from 8:00 to 12:00 in the morning and from 2:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon, and of Villanueva from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. and from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Between 4:00 to 5:00 that afternoon, there were about twenty bathers inside the pool area and Manuel Abaño was going around the pools to observe the bathers in compliance with the instructions of his chief.
Between 4:40 to 4:45 p.m., some boys who were in the pool area informed a bather by the name of Andres Hagad, Jr., that somebody was swimming under water for quite a long time. Another boy informed lifeguard Manuel Abaño of the same happening and Abaño immediately jumped into the big swimming pool and retrieved the apparently lifeless body of Dominador Ong from the bottom.
The death was due to asphyxia by submersion in water.
ISSUE:
whether the death of minor Dominador Ong can be attributed to the negligence of defendant and/or its employees so as to entitle plaintiffs to recover damages.
RULING:
NO.
Ruben Ong particularly emphasized therein was that after the lifeguard heard the shouts for help, the latter immediately dived into the pool to retrieve the person under water who turned out to be his brother.
there is sufficient evidence to show that appellee has taken all necessary precautions to avoid danger to the lives of its patrons or prevent accident which may cause their death. Thus, it has been shown that the swimming pools of appellee are provided with a ring buoy, toy roof, towing line, oxygen resuscitator and a first aid medicine kit. The bottom of the pools is painted with black colors so as to insure clear visibility.
appellee has done what is humanly possible under the circumstances to restore life to minor Ong and for that reason it is unfair to hold it liable for his death.
Since it is not known how minor Ong came into the big swimming pool and it being apparent that he went there without any companion in violation of one of the regulations of appellee as regards the use of the pools, and it appearing that lifeguard Aba_¤_o responded to the call for help as soon as his attention was called to it and immediately after retrieving the body all efforts at the disposal of appellee had been put into play in order to bring him back to life, it is clear that there is no room for the application of the doctrine now invoked by appellants to impute liability to appellee..
The last clear chance doctrine can never apply where the party charged is required to act instantaneously, and if the injury cannot be avoided by the application of all means at hand after the peril is or should have been discovered; at least in cases in which any previous negligence of the party charged cannot be said to have contributed to the injury.
G.R. No. L-7664 August 29, 1958
MR. AND MRS. AMADOR C. ONG, plaintiffs-appellants, vs. METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT, defendant-appellee.
FACTS:
Defendant owns and operates three recreational swimming pools at its Balara filters, Diliman, Quezon City, to which people are invited and for which a nominal fee of P0.50 for adults and P0.20 for children is charged. The main pool it between two small pools of oval shape known as the "Wading pool" and the "Beginners Pool." There are diving boards in the big pools and the depths of the water at different parts are indicated by appropriate marks on the wall. The care and supervision of the pools and the users thereof is entrusted to a recreational section composed of Simeon Chongco as chief, Armando Rule, a male nurse, and six lifeguards who had taken the life-saving course given by the Philippine Red Cross at the YMCA in Manila.
In the afternoon of July 5, 1952, at about 1:00 o'clock, Dominador Ong, a 14-year old high school student and boy scout, and his brothers Ruben and Eusebio, went to defendant's swimming pools. This was not the first time that the three brothers had gone to said natatorium for they had already been there four or five times before. They arrived at the natatorium at about 1:45 p.m. After paying the requisite admission fee, they immediately went to one of the small pools where the water was shallow. At about 4:35 p.m., Dominador Ong told his brothers that he was going to the locker room in an adjoining building to drink a bottle of coke.
Upon hearing this, Ruben and Eusebio went to the bigger pool leaving Dominador in the small pool and so they did not see the latter when he left the pool to get a bottle of coke. In that afternoon, there were two lifeguards on duty in the pool compound, namely, Manuel Abaño and Mario Villanueva. The tour of duty of Abaño was from 8:00 to 12:00 in the morning and from 2:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon, and of Villanueva from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. and from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Between 4:00 to 5:00 that afternoon, there were about twenty bathers inside the pool area and Manuel Abaño was going around the pools to observe the bathers in compliance with the instructions of his chief.
Between 4:40 to 4:45 p.m., some boys who were in the pool area informed a bather by the name of Andres Hagad, Jr., that somebody was swimming under water for quite a long time. Another boy informed lifeguard Manuel Abaño of the same happening and Abaño immediately jumped into the big swimming pool and retrieved the apparently lifeless body of Dominador Ong from the bottom.
The death was due to asphyxia by submersion in water.
ISSUE:
whether the death of minor Dominador Ong can be attributed to the negligence of defendant and/or its employees so as to entitle plaintiffs to recover damages.
RULING:
NO.
Ruben Ong particularly emphasized therein was that after the lifeguard heard the shouts for help, the latter immediately dived into the pool to retrieve the person under water who turned out to be his brother.
there is sufficient evidence to show that appellee has taken all necessary precautions to avoid danger to the lives of its patrons or prevent accident which may cause their death. Thus, it has been shown that the swimming pools of appellee are provided with a ring buoy, toy roof, towing line, oxygen resuscitator and a first aid medicine kit. The bottom of the pools is painted with black colors so as to insure clear visibility.
appellee has done what is humanly possible under the circumstances to restore life to minor Ong and for that reason it is unfair to hold it liable for his death.
Since it is not known how minor Ong came into the big swimming pool and it being apparent that he went there without any companion in violation of one of the regulations of appellee as regards the use of the pools, and it appearing that lifeguard Aba_¤_o responded to the call for help as soon as his attention was called to it and immediately after retrieving the body all efforts at the disposal of appellee had been put into play in order to bring him back to life, it is clear that there is no room for the application of the doctrine now invoked by appellants to impute liability to appellee..
The last clear chance doctrine can never apply where the party charged is required to act instantaneously, and if the injury cannot be avoided by the application of all means at hand after the peril is or should have been discovered; at least in cases in which any previous negligence of the party charged cannot be said to have contributed to the injury.
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