The Supreme Court (SC) recently ordered the administration of Far Eastern University (FEU) to pay more than P200,000 to a law student after a school security guard accidentally shot and wounded the victim inside the campus in Manila in 1996.
The Court’s Third Division, in an 18-page decision penned by Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago during the SC’s summer session in Baguio City, affirmed the decision of the Manila Regional Trial Court, Branch 2 that found FEU liable for damages for breach of its obligation to provide students with a safe and secure learning atmosphere.
The ruling ordered the school to pay then sophomore law student Joseph Saludaga actual damages of P35,298 plus six percent interest per annum from the filing of the complaint until the finality of the High Court’s decision.
The school was likewise ordered to pay temperate damages of P20,000; moral damages, P100,000; and attorney’s fees and litigation expenses, P50,000.
The complaint against FEU president Edilberto de Jesus was ordered dismissed.
The SC ruling also ordered the security agency, Galaxy Development and Management Corp. (Galaxy) and its president, Mariano Imperial to pay FEU damages equivalent to the said amounts.
Associate Justices Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Minita Chico-Nazario, Antonio Nachura and Ruben Reyes concurred. Saludaga was shot by security guard Alejandro Rosete on Aug. 18, 1996.
He was rushed to the FEU-Dr. Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation (FEU-NRMF) due to the wound he sustained.
Rosete was brought to the police station where he explained that the shooting was accidental. He was eventually released considering that no formal complaint was filed against him.
Saludaga filed a complaint for damages against the school on the ground that they breached their obligation to provide students with a safe and secure environment and an atmosphere conducive to learning. – Sandy Araneta