G.R. No. 200250 , August 6, 2014
UPSI PROPERTY HOLDINGS, INC., Petitioner, vs. DIESEL CONSTRUCTION CO., INC., Respondent.

FACTS

This case involves the execution of a final and executory Supreme Court Decision dated March 24, 2008, which resolved consolidated petitions arising from a Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC) arbitral award. The CIAC originally awarded Diesel Construction Co., Inc. (Diesel) monetary claims, including an unpaid balance and legal interest. The Court of Appeals (CA) modified this award. The Supreme Court, in its final Decision, modified the CA rulings by: (1) deleting the award for liquidated damages; (2) affirming the award to Diesel for the unpaid balance of the contract price of PhP 3,661,692.64; (3) ordering UPSI to pay the costs of arbitration; (4) awarding attorney’s fees to Diesel; and (5) awarding damages to UPSI to be deducted from the amount due to Diesel. The dispositive portion summarized the aggregate award to Diesel as PhP 3,717,027.64, from which UPSI’s damages would be deducted. This Decision became final and executory on October 8, 2008. Diesel moved for a writ of execution. The CIAC granted execution and later, upon Diesel’s motion, issued an Order dated July 29, 2009, amending the writ to include the payment of legal interest on the award. UPSI filed a petition for certiorari with the CA (docketed as CA-G.R. SP No. 110926) arguing the CIAC gravely abused its discretion by modifying the writ to include legal interest, contending the Supreme Court’s final Decision was silent on interest. The CA denied the petition, ruling that the issue of legal interest was never raised by UPSI before the Supreme Court in its earlier petition and was thus a settled issue, and that the CIAC’s inclusion of interest was a proper clarification pursuant to the context of the final judgment. UPSI filed the present petition.

ISSUE

Whether the Court of Appeals erred in ruling that the CIAC correctly included the payment of legal interest in the writ of execution despite the Supreme Court’s final and executory Decision being silent on the matter in its dispositive portion.

RULING

The Supreme Court DENIED the petition. It held that the CA correctly sustained the CIAC’s inclusion of legal interest in the writ of execution. The Court ruled that its final Decision, which affirmed the award of the unpaid contract price of PhP 3,661,692.64, necessarily carried with it the payment of legal interest as originally imposed. The Court’s silence in the dispositive portion on the interest did not mean its deletion; if such were the intention, it would have been expressly stated. The Court clarified that a judgment includes not only what appears on the face of the decision but also those matters necessarily included therein or necessary thereto. The payment of legal interest on the awarded sum was a necessary component of the judgment. The CIAC’s order was not a modification but a clarification to align the writ of execution with the true intent and context of the final judgment. The Court also found no forum shopping by UPSI, as the other pending CA petition involved a different subject matter.