Republic of the Philippines National Capital Judicial Region
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT Branch 20, Manila
WILSON G. CHUA, doing business under the name and style WIN MULTI RICH BUILDERS, Plaintiff, -versus-
SPS. LOWELL and ELVIRA TANGI,
Civil Case No. 07-568941 FOR: SUM OF MONEY and DAMAGES
Defendants. x-------------------------------x-------------------------------------------------------------x --x
ANSWER
with COUNTERCLAIM DEFE DEFEND NDANT ANT SPOU SPOUSE SES S LOWE LOWELL LL TANG TANGII and and ELVI ELVIRA RA TANGI, throug through h unders undersign igned ed counse counsel, l, to the Honora Honorable ble Court Court,, most respectfully avers the following: 1.
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Defendant Defendant spouses are Filipino Filipino citizens, citizens, of legal ages, married to each other, and may be served with notices and other court court processe processes s at No. 1569-1571 1569-1571 G. Tuazon Tuazon Street, Street, Sampaloc, Manila. Defendants admit that they engaged the services of herein plaintiff, Mr. Wilson Chua who is doing business under the name and style of Win Multi Rich Builders for the purpose of the the cons constr truc ucti tion on of thei theirr 3 stor storey ey with with deck deck resi reside dent ntia iall house located at No. 1569-1571 G. Tuazon Street, Sampaloc, Manila where defendants defendants are are now residing. The agreem agreement ent was reflec reflected ted on the Servic Service e Contr Contract act dated dated March 17, 2006 entered into by the parties hereto attached as Annex “1”. Defendants likewise admit that the initial quotation for the said construction given by plaintiff to the defendants was in the estimated amount of Two Million Eight Hundred Fifty Thousand Thousand Pesos (Php2,850,000 (Php2,850,000.00) .00) which which is payable payable thru progress billing and with a down payment of 30% of the aforesaid contract contract price. price. The construction construction was agreed agreed to be comp comple lete ted d with within in 15 150 0 work workin ing g days days whic which h the the plai plaint ntif iff f affirmed to be possible. Copy of said quotation quotation dated March March 30, 2006 is hereto marked as Annex “2”. After defendant spouses secured all the required permits and paid all government fees and after the tender of the
30% agreed down payment to the plaintiff, the latter commenced the aforesaid construction upon the issuance of a Building Permit with No. 98645654 (Annex “3”) and Official Receipts (Annexes “4” to “4-J”). The construction started on April 12, 2006 and expected to be complete and ready for occupancy on the second week of September. 5. Due to some defects in the construction, sometime in July 2006, defendants requested for additional finishing works for additional contract price of One Million Four Hundred Seven Thousand Pesos & 10/100 (Php1,407,007.30) and plaintiff again furnished the defendants a copy of the aforesaid quotation is hereto marked as Annex “5”. 6. Defendant likewise admits that sometime in August 2006, they again requested for additional ground floor extension for an additional contract price of Two Hundred Thirty-One Thousand Three Hundred Sixty-Four & 95/100 (Php231,364.95) as reflected on the quotation furnished by the plaintiff to the defendant and hereto attached as Annex “6”. This request of additional ground floor extension was due to the defect in the construction done by the plaintiff and his workers for non-compliance with the project plan previously agreed by the parties. 7. It is also worth noting to raise the observation that despite the short duration of time frame left to finish the construction, the progress of construction is not in accordance with the scheduled accomplishment as the work progress is very slow. 8. On the second week of September 2006, the expected period of completion of the project and its supposed occupancy capability, the construction is still unfinished with defects in its construction as it did not confer to the project plan and architecture preferred by herein defendants. 9. Despite the repeated demands by the defendant to the plaintiff to fully complete the construction according to the plan, plaintiff refused to do so and in fact have abandoned the construction sometime in the second week of December 2006 along with his laborers. The defective and unfinished construction is evidenced by photographs with encrypted dates and hour of their capture which were marked as Annexes “7” to “7-BB”. 10. As there is a dire need for the defendants to transfer their residence on the newly constructed house, sometime on February 2007, defendants decided to avail the services of Engr. Bryan Mancile and his laborers to complete and satisfy the pending construction according to the agreed project plan as evidenced by a Service Contract dated February 18, 2007 herein attached as Annex “8”. Finally on April 15, 2007, the new group of workers completed the construction of the house in accordance with the plan. The finished newly constructed house is evidenced by
photographs with encrypted dates and hours of their capture marked as Annexes “9” to “9-M”. 11. During the construction of the second group of workers, it was discovered that the first group used substandard quality of materials on the construction and did not actually applied all the materials listed on the receipts submitted by the plaintiff to the defendant in supporting the progress billings as reflected on the construction assessment made by Engr. Mancile duly approved by the City Engineers’ Office marked as Annex “10”. 12. Defendants admit that they in fact received demands from the plaintiff to pay the balance of Seven Hundred Forty Eight Thousand Four Hundred Sixty-Six Pesos and 76/100 (Php748,466.76) which the defendants refused to pay as they believe that the claimed amount by the plaintiff is still not enough to compensate the former of all the damages the latter caused them due to the abandonment of the construction of the house and non-compliance to render quality service as stated in the contract and defrauding them in the items reflected on the billing. 13. To complete the construction and repair all the defects in the construction made by the plaintiff, the defendants incurred an expense in the total amount of One Million and Forty Two Thousand Pesos (Php1,042,000.00) with the receipts and accounting attached as Annexes “11” to “11KK”. 14. To compensate defendants from all the damages caused by the plaintiff, the latter should be ordered to pay the defendants One Million and Forty Two Thousand Pesos (Php1,042,000.00) as the total actual damages caused by plaintiff’s breach of contract plus Two Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php200,000.00) as moral damages and One Hundred Thousand Pesos (PhP100,000.00) as attorney’s fees.
PRAYER WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is hereby prayed that, after hearing, judgment be rendered ordering the following: 1. Dismiss the complaint. 2. Ordering the plaintiff to pay the defendants the following: a. b. c.
One Million and Forty Two Thousand Pesos (Php1,042,000.00) as the total actual damages; Two Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php200,000.00) for each defendant as moral damages; and One Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php100,000.00) as for attorney’s fees and litigation expenses.
FURTHER RELIEFS, just and equitable, are likewise prayed for. Manila, Philippines, June 12, 2007.
ALOVERA-AGBAYANI and ASSOCIATES LAW OFFICES Counsel for the Defendants Unit A, 88 San Marcelino Street, Ermita, Manila 1000 By:
CHARMAINE MALLARI ALOVERA ROLL NO. 54321 PTR NO. 7120209-08/07/2009-MANILA IBP LIFETIME MEMBER NO. 12345
Copy Furnished:
ATTY. MARLOU PLEÑA PLEÑA LAW OFFICE Counsel for the Plaintiff Golangco Building 426 J. Nepomuceno Street San Miguel, Manila
VERIFICATION AND CERTIFICATE OF NON-FORUM SHOPPING We, LOWELL TANGI and ELVIRA TANGI, of legal ages, Filipino, married to each other, and with postal address at No. 1569-1571 G. Tuazon Street, Sampaloc, Manila, after being duly sworn in accordance with law, depose and state, that: 1. 2.
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We are the defendants in the above-entitled case; We filed this Answer with counterclaim in connection with the complaint for sum of money and damages filed against us by plaintiff Mr. Wilson Chua; The allegations herein are true and correct based on our own personal knowledge and existing records and documents; We further certify that we have not heretofore commenced any other proceeding involving the same issues in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, or any other tribunal
or agency, that to the best of our knowledge, no such action or proceeding is pending in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals or any other tribunal or agency, that should it be learned that a similar action or proceeding has been filed or is pending before the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals or any other tribunal or agency, we undertake to report that fact to this Honorable Court within five (5) days therefrom.
LOWELL TANGI Affiant
ELVIRA TANGI Affiant
SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me this 12th day of JUNE, 2007 at Manila, Philippines , affiants exhibited to me their Community Tax Certificates with Nos. 15697862 and 15687925 both issued at Manila on February 15, 2007.
NOTARY PUBLIC Doc. No. Page No. Book No. Series of
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