The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed a lawsuit by a contractor seeking payment for additional construction work for the PNOC Shipping and Transport Corp.
In a 16-page decision published last month, the full court upheld the Commission on Audit’s (CoA) denial of EL Saniel Construction’s monetary claim.
The tribunal said the contractor had no clear basis for claiming reasonable payment for services provided outside the contract.
It noted that in the cases cited by the contractor, the additional work had been expressly or implicitly approved by the contracting authority. Neither was present in the case of EL Saniel.
The contractor failed to provide evidence of an implied contract with PNOC Shipping for the additional work or tangible benefit from the claimed services, the high court said.
“Apparently, EL Saniel unilaterally decided to proceed with the additional works, let alone at 179% more than the original contract price of the stone dumping project, without informing [PNOC Shipping],” it added.
EL Saniel was awarded a P4.98 million contract in 2010 for the rehabilitation of its office in Limay, Bataan in northern Philippines, and a P1.35 million contract for the design and construction of slope protection. Both were paid in full.
But it later demanded an additional payment of P2.96 million, claiming that the office grounds needed additional work.
PNOC Shipping was dissolved in 2013 after three decades as Petron Corp.’s transportation arm. had served. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana