MRT builder ordered to pay construction firm P58M

The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the Metro Rail Transit Development Corp. (MRTDC) to settle the over P58-million damage claim filed against it by a construction firm.

Gammon Phils. Inc. had sued MRTDC for breach of contract.

In a 31-page ruling, the appellate court dismissed the MRTDC petition seeking a reversal of the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC) decision directing that the Sobrepeña-controlled consortium pay Gammon for lost revenue.

Gammon had sought the CIAC’s intervention to recoup over P58 million it lost when MRTDC, builder of the elevated train system along Edsa, rescinded its contract for the concrete works of a structure of the MRT-3 North Triangle Development Project in 1998.

“Considering that the CIAC’s decision is fully supported by substantial evidence and applicable jurisprudence, this court cannot but sustain it,” said the CA in a resolution dated October 14.

Associate Justice Antonio Villamor wrote the decision that was concurred in by Associate Justices Jane Lantion and Ramon Cruz.

In throwing out MRTDC’s petition, the court said the consortium’s admission of liability was “binding,” noting that it had owned up to its financial obligation to Gammon in one of its pleadings filed with the arbitration body.

According to the court, there was “ample basis on record” to show Gammon’s right to demand monetary claims for the services it had rendered prior to the termination of the contract.

“It is well settled that judicial admissions cannot be contradicted by the party making it and who is thereby bound by it and, absent any showing as in this case, that this was made through a palpable mistake, no amount of rationalization can offset it,” the appellate court said.