Republic of the Philippines

National Capital Judicial Region

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch ____, Manila
TRINIDAD DELOS SANTOS,
Plaintiff,

-versus-

Civil Case No.

For: Annulment of Contract with
Damages

RICE CENTRAL AUSTRALIA, INC.,

Defendant.

OPPOSITION TO MOTION TO DISMISS

PLAINTIFF, through Counsel, states:

1. On September, defendants through Counsel filed a Motion to Dismiss based

on the following grounds:
a. The Court has no jurisdiction over the persons of the defendants,
there being improper service of summons;
b. The complaint does not state a cause of action.

2. Upon a thorough review of defendants averments, plaintiff respectfully

submits that said Motion to Dismiss bereft of merit.

II.
Discussion
A. Lack of Jurisdiction over the persons of the defendants
3. Defendants anchor their first ground on Section 1(a) of Rule 16 of the
Revised Rules of Civil Procedure, and contend that this Honorable Court has
no jurisdiction over them, as the summons were improperly served.

4. It appears that defendants are not cognizant of Rule 14, Section 20 of said
Rules which states that:

The defendants voluntary appearance in the action

shall be equivalent to service of summons. The
inclusion in a motion to dismiss of other grounds aside
from lack of jurisdiction over the person of the
defendant

shall

not

be

deemed

voluntary

appearance.

5. The Courts pronouncement in Busuego vs. Court of Appeals1 citing Flores

v. Zurbito, 37 Phil. 746, 750 finds cogent application:

1 G.R. No. L-48955, June 30, 1987

A voluntary appearance is a waiver of the necessity of a formal

notice. An appearance in whatever form, without explicitly
objecting to the jurisdiction of the court over the person, is a
submission to the jurisdiction of the court over the person.
While the formal method of entering an appearance in a cause
pending in the courts is to deliver to the clerk a written
direction ordering him to enter the appearance of the person
who subscribes it, an appearance may be made by simply
filing a formal motion, or plea or answer. This formal method
of appearance is not necessary. He may appear without such
formal appearance and thus submit himself to the jurisdiction
of the court. He may appear by presenting a motion, for
example, and unless by such appearance he specifically
objects to the jurisdiction of the court, he thereby gives his
assent to the jurisdiction of the court over his person

6. Attention is called to the fact that counsel for defendants filed a Motion for
Extension to File Pleading on September 5, 2015. There is no indication
whatsoever that such pleading contained an ad cautelam reservation. Said
entry and motion have been entered into the records of the court and were
duly acted upon in an Order dated September 7, 2015.

7. Plaintiff respectfully submits that by making such motion, defendant

Corporation is deemed to have voluntarily submitted to the jurisdiction of
the court, thereby waiving their right to invoke the defense of improper
service of summons.

B. Failure to State a Cause of Action

1. As regards the allegation of failure to state a cause of action, while the same
is usually available as a ground in a Motion to Dismiss, said ground cannot
be ruled upon in the present Petition without going into the very merits of
the main case.

2. Under Rule Rule 2, Section 2of the Revised Rules of Civil Procedure, a cause
of action is the act or omission by which a party violates a right of another.
Its elements are the following: (1) a right existing in favor of the plaintiff, (2) a
duty on the part of the defendant to respect the plaintiff's right, and (3) an
act or omission of the defendant in violation of such right. 2 In order to
sustain a Motion to Dismiss for lack of cause of action, the complaint must
show that the claim for relief does not exist and not only that the claim was
defectively stated or is ambiguous, indefinite or uncertain.3

3. The Complaint contains all the three elements of a cause of action, i.e., it
alleges that: (1) plaintiff has the right to ask for the declaration of nullity of
the Contract of Lease for being null and void and contrary to Article 1409 of
the Civil Code of the Philippines; (2) defendant has the corresponding
obligation not to enforce the Contract of Lease because it is absolutely
simulated or fictitious, and therefore the transactions implementing those

2Luzon Development Bank v. Conquilla, 507 Phil. 509, 524 (2005)

3Pioneer Concrete Philippines, Inc. v. Todaro, G.R. No. 154830, June 8, 2007, 524 SCRA 153, 162

contract is null and void under Philippine laws; and (3) defendant ignored
the advice and intends to enforce the Contract of Lease.

4. In Signetics Corp. v. Court of Appeals4, the Court held that an issue which
requires the contravention of the allegations of the complaint, as well as the
full ventilation, in effect, of the main merits of the case, should not be
within the province of a mere Motion to Dismiss.

5. The absence of a cause of action (as opposed to the failure to state a cause of
action), being that the alleged Contract of Lease was signed by Ms. Mila J.
Punzalan, her Attorney In-Fact in the Philippines, is not a ground in a
Motion to Dismiss as enumerated in Section 1, Rule 16 5 of the Rules of
Court. Rather, such defense raises evidentiary issues closely related to the
validity and/or existence of respondents alleged cause of action and should
therefore be threshed out during the trial.

4 G.R. No. 105141, August 31, 1993

5

Section 1.Grounds. Within the time for but before filing the answer to the
complaint or pleading asserting a claim, a motion to dismiss may be made on any
of the following grounds:(a) That the court has no jurisdiction over the person of the

defending party;
(b) That the court has no jurisdiction over the subject matter of the claim;
(c) That venue is improperly laid;
(d) That the plaintiff has no legal capacity to sue;
(e) That there is another action pending between the same parties for the same cause;
(f) That the cause of action is barred by a prior judgment or by the statute of limitations;
(g) That the pleading asserting the claim states no cause of action;
(h) That the claim or demand set forth in the plaintiff's pleading has been paid, waived,
abandoned, or otherwise extinguished;
(i) That the claim on which the action is founded is unenforceable under the provisions of the
statute of frauds; and
(j) That a condition precedent for filing the claim has not been complied with.

PRAYER
WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that defendants Motion to Dismiss be
denied and the case be set for trial. All other reliefs, just and equitable
under the premises, are likewise prayed for.

By:
J CRUZ
Counsel for the Plaintiff
101 Matahimik St.,
Teachers Village, Quezon City.
Roll No. 52826
IBP O.R. No. 683323 5-8-06
Quezon City Chapter