Bacani v.
NACOCO Digest
G.R. No. L-9657 Nov. 29, 1956
Two-fold Function of the Government
FACTS:
1. Bacani and Matoto are court stenographers both assigned in the CFI of Manila.
During the pendency of another civil case (Civil Case No. 2293 entitled 'Francisco
Sycip vs. NACOCO'), Alikpala, counsel for NACOCO(Nat’l Coconut Corporation) ,
requested the said stenographers for copies of the transcript of the stenographic
notes taken by them during the hearing. Plaintiffs complied with the request by
delivering to Counsel Alikpala the needed transcript containing 714 pages and
thereafter submitted to him their bills for the payment of their fees. The NACOCO
paid the amount of P564 to Bacani and P150 to Matoto for said transcript at the rate
of P1 per page.
2. Subsequently, the Auditor General required the plaintiffs to reimburse said
amounts by virtue of a DOJ circular which stated that NACOCO, being a government
entity, was exempt from the payment of the fees in question.
3. Petitioners countered that NACOCO is not a government entity within the purview of
section 16, Rule 130 of the Rules of Court while the defendants set up as a defense
that the NACOCO is a government entity within the purview of section 2 of the
Revised Administrative Code of 1917 hence, exempt from paying the stenographers’
fees under Rule 130 of the Rules of Court.
ISSUE: Whether or not NACOCO can be considered as a government entity and
exempt from fees
Ruling: NACOCO has a ministrant functions and not considered as a government
entity hence is required to pay fees. Government function is divided into two:
Constituent and Ministrant. Constituent constitute the very bonds of society and
compulsory in nature. Ministrant functions are undertaken only by way of advancing
the general interest of society and merely optional
A. President Wilson enumerates the constituent functions as follows:
1. The keeping of order and providing for the protection of persons and
property from violence and robbery.
2. The fixing of the legal relations between man and wife and between
parents and children.
3. The regulation of the holding, transmission, and interchange of property,
and the determination of its liabilities for debt or for crime.
4. The determination of contract rights between individuals.
5. The definition and punishment of crime.
6. The administration of justice in civil cases.
7. The determination of the political duties, privileges, and relations of
citizens.
8. Dealings of the state with foreign powers: the preservation of the state
from external danger or encroachment and the advancement of its
international interests.’
B. The most important of the ministrant functions are: public works, public
education, public charity, health and safety regulations, and regulations of trade and
industry. The principles deter mining whether or not a government shall exercise
certain of these optional functions are:
1.that a government should do for the public welfare those things which
private capital would not naturally undertake and
2. that a government should do these things which by its very nature it is
better equipped to administer for the public welfare than is any private individual or
group of individuals.