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AT A GLANCE:
The month of May of every year is declared as the Land Transportation Safety Month, as per Proclamation No. 115-A, series of 1966.
Article 1755 of the Civil Code provides that a common carrier is bound to carry the passengers safely as far as human care and foresight can provide, using the utmost diligence of very cautious persons, with a due regard for all the circumstances.
Did you know that under Proclamation No, 115-A, series of 1966, the year 1967 and every year thereafter is declared as “Safety and Accident Prevention Year”? Each month of the year is devoted to a particular field of safety and prevention, wherein May is designated as the Land Transportation Safety Month.
Under the Civil Code, common carriers, from the nature of their business and for reasons of public policy, are bound to observe extraordinary diligence in the vigilance over the goods and for the safety of the passengers transported by them, according to all the circumstances of each case. (Article 1733, Civil Code)
Article 1755 further provides that a common carrier is bound to carry the passengers safely as far as human care and foresight can provide, using the utmost diligence of very cautious persons, with a due regard for all the circumstances.
Simply put, a common carrier must transport its passengers safely to his destination. This provision holds true regardless if the passenger is transported for a fee or not.
However, the law does not make the common carrier an insurer of the absolute safety of its passengers. In the case of G.V. Florida Transport, Inc. v. Heirs of Romeo L. Battung, Sr. (G.R. No. 2008802, October 14, 2015), the Supreme Court ruled that while the law requires the highest degree of diligence from common carriers in the safe transport of their passengers and creates a presumption of negligence against them, it does not make the carrier an insurer of the absolute safety of its passengers.
Further, the Supreme Court explained, Article 1755 of the Civil Code qualifies the duty of extraordinary care, vigilance, and precaution in the carriage of passengers by common carriers to only such as human care and foresight can provide. What constitutes compliance with said duty is adjudged with due regard to all the circumstances.
Article 1756 of the Civil Code, in creating a presumption of fault or negligence on the part of the common carrier when its passenger is injured, merely relieves the latter, for the time being, from introducing evidence to fasten the negligence on the former, because the presumption stands in the place of evidence. Being a mere presumption, however, the same is rebuttable by proof that the common carrier had exercised extraordinary diligence as required by law in the performance of its contractual obligation, or that the injury suffered by the passenger was solely due to a fortuitous event.
Common carriers have been defined under the law as those persons, corporations, firms or associations engaged in the business of carrying or transporting passengers or goods or both, by land, water, or air, for compensation, offering their services to the public. (Article 1732, Civil Code)
Read also: Who are covered by the Civil Service Law?
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