San Pablo v. Pantranco South Express, Inc.

(1987)
Gancayco, J.

FACTS:
Pantranco is a domestic corporation engaged in the land transportation business with a bus service for
passengers and freight.
It has various Certificates for Public Convenience (CPC) to operate its passenger buses from Manila to Bicol and
Eastern Samar.
In March 1980 Pantranco wrote to the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) asking for authority to lease or
purchase a vessel (M/V Black Double) as it wanted to operate a ferryboat service from Matnog, Sorsogon, and
Allen, Samar to provide service to company buses and freight trucks that need to cross San Bernardo Strait.
MARINA informed Pantranco that it cannot give course to the request because:
o Matnog-Allen is already serviced by Cardinal Shipping and Epitacio San Pablo, thus it would be against
MARINAs policy to allow the introduction of new operators in adequately serviced areas;
o Market conditions in the area cannot support the entry of additional tonnage;
o Vessel acquisitions intended for operations in the area are allowed only if they are replacements.
Pantranco still bought the vessel for P3 million. It then wrote to the Chairman of the Board of Transportation
proposing the operation of the ferry service for the Matnog-Allen line. Pantranco claimed that it was for the
purpose of continuing the highway, which is interrupted by a small body of water.
Pantranco thus concluded that it no longer needed another CPC for this purpose.
Without any reply from the BOT, Pantranco operated the ferry service.
The BOT Acting Chairman, Jose Campos, issued two orders enjoining Pantranco from operating the ferry service.
Epitacio San Pablo (now his heirs) and Cardinal Shipping Corp. opposed the operation of the ferry service on the
ground that they adequately service Pantranco by ferrying its buses, trucks and passengers.
The BOT sought a legal opinion from the DOJ. Min. Puno determined that there was no need for another CPC to
operate the ferry service because it is the common carriers duty under its current CPC to provide adequate and
convenient service to its riders. He stated that to require Pantranco to apply for another CPC would be
duplicitous and superfluous.
The BOT decided that the ferryboat service is part of Pantrancos existing CPC.
San Pablo and Cardinal filed MRs. They were denied.
Hence, these consolidated petitions by San Pablo and Cardinal for certiorari with prayer for preliminary injunction.

ISSUES + RULING:

WoN the ferry service is an extension of the highway and is thus a part of the authority originally granted Pantranco. NO.
BOT: The ferryboat service of Pantranco is a continuation of the highway traversed by its buses from Pasay City
to Samar, Leyte passing through Matnog (Sorsogon) through San Bernardino Strait to Allen (Samar).
o Since it caters only to its own clientele (own buses, passengers, and trucks), it is a private carrier.
o It is a private carrier because it will be used exclusively to transport its own buses, passengers and freight
trucks traversing the said route.
o Legally therefore, Pantranco has the right to operate the ferryboat M/V BLACK DOUBLE, along the route
from Matnog (Sorsogon) to Allen (Samar) and vice versa for the exclusive use of its own buses,
passengers and freight trucks without the need of applying for a separate certificate of public convenience
or provisional authority.
Courts decision in Javellana v. PSC:
o The term ferry implied the continuation by means of boats, barges, or rafts, of a highway or the
connection of highways located on the opposite banks of a stream or other body of water. The term
necessarily implies transportation for a short distance, almost invariably between two points, which is
unrelated to other transportation.
o Ferry properly means a place of transit across a river or arm of the sea, but in law it is treated as a
franchise, and defined as the exclusive right to carry passengers across a river, or arm of the sea, from
one vill to another, or to connect a continuous line of road leading from township or vill to another.
In other cases, the Court considered as ferry service such water service that crosses rivers.
In Javellana, a clear distinction was made between a ferry service and a coastwise or interisland service.
o Ferry between banks of a river or stream to continue the highway which is interrupted by the body of
water.
o Interisland/coastwise trade involves crossing the open sea where the waters are wide and dangerous
with big waves.
Court takes judicial notice of the fact that Matnog is in the southern tip of Luzon and Allen is on the northeastern
tip of Samar. The parties agree that the distance between the two is about 23km and that a ride will take 1 -2
hours. As the San Bernardino Strait which separates Matnog and Allen leads to the ocean it must at times be
choppy and rough so that it will not be safe to navigate the same by small boats or barges but only by such
steamboats or vessels as the M/V Black Double.
Considering the environmental circumstances of the case, the conveyance of passengers, trucks and cargo from
Matnog to Allen is certainly not a ferryboat service but a coastwise or interisland shipping service.
o The sea between Matnog and Allen is NOT a continuation of the highway.
Pantranco needs to obtain another CPC for the operation of an interisland or coastwise shipping service. Its CPC
as a bus transportation cannot be merely amended to include this water service under the guise that it is a mere
private ferry service.
Pantranco is NOT a private carrier, either.
o It charges passengers separately for boarding the M/V Black Double and issues different tickets.

DISPOSITION: Petition granted. Decision reversed and set aside. Pantranco permanently enjoined form operating the
ferryboat service until it shall have secured the CPC in accordance with the requirements of the law.