SC: Power co-op must pay damages for harassment

The supreme Court awarded P150,000 in damages to a couple in Naga City who claimed to have been harassed by the local electric cooperative for seven years over the unpaid bills of their former tenant worth around P11,000.

In a decision dated March 6 and penned by Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, the Supreme Court First Division granted the 20-year quest of spouses Reno and Lourdes Gonzales and their son Rey to stop the Camarines Sur II Electric Cooperative Inc. (Casureco) from making them accountable for their ex-tenants’ delinquent account.

Citing “severe sufferings inflicted on the petitioners by Casureco,” the Supreme Court affirmed the award of P150,000 in moral damages, exemplary damages and attorneys’ fees to the Gonzaleses by a Naga judge. The high court also added P3,000 as temperate damages.

The other division members—Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Lucas Bersamin, Martin Villarama Jr. and Bienvenido Reyes—concurred.

The high court chided Casureco for “irresponsibly” failing to update its records from 1992 to 1999, despite the execution of the compromise agreement and the constant reminder by the Gonzaleses to make the appropriate rectification.

“We further note that Casureco offered no valid explanation for such flagrant omission. Hence, this Court maintains the original grant [of damages] in order to exact better service from utility companies,” the justices added.

The Gonzaleses were owners of an apartment unit in Naga whose tenants reneged on their obligation to pay their electric bills for the second semester of 1992. After the disconnection of the electricity, the tenants left and the Gonzaleses sought a dialog with Casureco to restore the power supply.

“To teach Casureco a lesson and to prevent such wanton, fraudulent, reckless, oppressive and malevolent acts from happening to other hapless consumers,” the regional trial court ordered the power firm to pay the Gonzaleses the following: P5,000 in actual damages; P50,000, moral damages; P50,000, exemplary damages; P50,000, attorneys fees, and P2,860.65, cost of suit.