FEDERICO YLARDE VS. EDGARDO AQUINO AND MAURO SORIANO, GR NO.

L-
33722, JULY 29, 1988

FACTS: In 1963, private respondent Mauro Soriano was the principal of the Gabaldon
Primary School while another private respondent, Edgardo Aquino was a teacher thereon. At
that time, the school had several concrete blocks which were remnants of the old school shop
that was destroyed in World War II. Since the huge stones pose serious hazards to the
schoolchildren, Aquino gathered 18 of his male pupils, aged 10 to 11, and ordered them to dig
beside a 1-ton concrete block to make a hole where they can bury the stones. The work was left
unfinished. The next day, Aquino called 4 pupils - Reynaldo Alonso, Francisco Alcantara,
Ismael Abaga and Novelito Ylarde – to complete the excavation. Aquino then left the children
to level the loose soil around the open hole while he went away to get some rope. Before
leaving the children, Aquino allegedly told them "not to touch the stone." As soon as Aquino
left, the children playfully jumped into the pit, however, the huge concrete block continued to
slide down towards the opening. The other three children were able to scramble out of the
excavation on time but unfortunately for Ylarde, the concrete block caught him before he
could get out, pinning him to the wall in a standing position. As a result, Ylarde sustained
serious physical injuries and died 3 days later. Ylarde's parents filed a suit for damages against
Aquino and Soriano. The lower court dismissed the complaint on the following grounds: (1)
that the digging done by the pupils is in line with their course called Work Education; (2) that
Aquino exercised the utmost diligence of a very cautious person; and (3) that the demise of
Ylarde was due to his own reckless imprudence. CA affirmed. Petitioners base their action
against Aquino on Article 2176 of the Civil Code for his alleged negligence that caused their
son's death while the complaint against Soriano as the head of school is founded on Article
2180.

ISSUE: Can both private respondents teacher Aquino and principal Soriano be held liable for
damages?

DECISION: As regards principal Soriano, he cannot be made responsible for the death of the
child Ylarde, since he is the head of an academic school and not of a school of arts and trades.
As held in Amadora vs. CA, it is only the teacher and not the head of an academic school who
should be answerable for torts committed by their students. In other words, teachers in
general shall be liable for the acts of their students except where the school is technical in
nature, in which case it is the head thereof who shall be answerable. Hence, Soriano as
principal cannot be held liable for the reason that the school he heads is an academic school
and he did not give any instruction regarding the digging.

In Aquino’s case, he can be held liable for being negligent in his supervision over them and his
failure to take the necessary precautions to prevent any injury on their persons. Aquino acted
with fault and gross negligence when he failed to avail himself of services of adult manual
laborers. The negligent act of private respondent Aquino in leaving his pupils in such a
dangerous site has a direct causal connection to the death of the child Ylarde. Left by
themselves, it was but natural for the children to play around. Since the stone was so heavy
and the soil was loose from the digging, it was also a natural consequence that the stone would
fall into the hole beside it, causing injury on the unfortunate child caught by its heavy weight.
The child Ylarde would not have died were it not for the unsafe situation created by Aquino
which exposed the lives of all the pupils concerned to real danger. Furthermore, the
excavation should not be placed in the category of Work Education like school gardening,
planting trees, and the like as these undertakings do not expose the children to any risk that
could result in death or physical injuries. A simple warning as "not to touch the stone" is not
sufficient to cast away all the serious danger that a huge concrete block adjacent to an
excavation would present to the children. Moreover, a teacher who stands in loco parentis to
his pupils would have made sure that the children are protected from all harm in his
company. Were it not for his gross negligence, the unfortunate incident would not have
occurred. As a consequence, respondent Edgardo Aquino is ordered to pay petitioners the
following: (1) Indemnity for the death of Child Ylarde P30,000.00; (2) Exemplary damages
10,000.00; and (3) Moral damages 20,000.00.