Civil Aeronautics Administration vs. CA

CIVIL AERONAUTICS ADMINISTRATION, petitioner,
vs.
COURT OF APPEALS and ERNEST E. SIMKE, respondents.

167 SCRA 28
November 8, 1988

FACTS:

Ernest Simke went to Manila International Airport to meet his future son-in-law. While walking towards the viewing deck or the terrace to get a better view of the incoming passengers, he slipped over an elevation about four inches high, and he fell on his back and broke his thigh bone.

He filed an action for damages based on quasi-delict with the CFI of Rizal against the Civil Aeronautics Administration or CAA as the entity empowered to administer, operate, manage, control, maintain, and develop the MIA. Judgment was rendered in his favor, and on appeal to the Court of Appeals, judgment was affirmed.

ISSUE:

Whether the CAA, being an agency of the government, can be made a party defendant?

HELD:

YES. Not all government entities whether corporate or not are immune from suits. Immunity from suits is determined by the character of the objects for which the entity was organized. The CAA is not immune from suit it being engaged in functions pertaining to a private entity. It is engaged in an enterprise which, far from being the exclusive prerogative of the state, may more than the construction of public roads, be undertaken by private concerns. The CAA was created not to maintain a necessity of the government, but to run what is essentially a business even if the revenues be not its prime objective but rather the promotion of travel and the convenience of the traveling public.