Who can I turn to?

Egay Uy .

WE often hear of reports about robberies being perpetrated inside public utility vehicles. In most cases, the robber boards the vehicle and mulcts his fellow passengers of their money, cellular phones and other valuables.

In some cases, the drivers of the public conveyance vehicles do nothing, not even caution their passengers of the presence of robbers on board even as they have already identified the perpetrator beforehand. Their reason: basin initan mi.

Lest they do not know, drivers of public utility vehicles ferry their passengers under a certain contract. There are no signed documents but the law provides for the contract. It’s called contract of carriage.

The contract is executed the moment the driver agrees to ferry the passenger regardless of whether or not the passenger pays the fare. Even non-paying passengers are covered by the contract of carriage.

In one case (La Mallorca v. CA), a passenger already alighted from the bus but returned to get their baggage. His daughter who was also a passenger followed him back to the bus. When the passenger boarded the bus again, it suddenly accelerated. The passenger’s daughter was pinned down and was killed.

The court said the relation of carrier and passenger does not cease at the moment the passenger steps down from the vehicle at the place selected by the carrier at the point of destination but continues until the passenger has had a reasonable time or opportunity to leave the premises.

In Dangwa v. CA, it was held that common carriers, from the nature of their business and reasons of public policy, are bound to observe extraordinary diligence for the safety of the passengers transported. A common carrier is bound to carry the passengers safely as far as human care and foresight can provide, using the utmost diligence very cautious persons, with due regard for all the circumstances.

The court further said that by the contract of carriage, the carrier assumes the express obligation to transport the passenger to his destination safely and observe extraordinary diligence with due regard for all the circumstances, and any injury that might be suffered by the passenger is right away attributable to the fault or negligence of the carrier.

The court added that it is incumbent upon the carrier to prove that it has exercised extraordinary diligence in transporting the passenger safely to his destination.

Let this be a caveat to common carrier operators and drivers. The next time passengers are robbed inside common carriers (jeepneys, motorelas, taxis, buses, etc.), they can run after you.