Moral damages include:

 physical suffering
 Mental anguish- is a mental suffering of high degree and not a mere
disappointment or regret (Southwestern Belle Tel. Co. vs. Cooks)
 Fright
 Serious anxiety
 Besmirched reputation
 Wounded feelings
 Moral shock
 Social humiliation and similar injury
 Nature of Moral Damages
Moral damages, though incapable of
pecuniary estimation, are in the category
of an award designed to compensate the
claimant for actual injury suffered and not
to impose a penalty on the wrongdoer.
• Art. 2218. In the adjudication of moral damages the sentimental value
of the property, real or personal may be considered.

Sentimental value of property- is the value placed by the owner on the

said property which is more than its actual value by reason of some
sentiments of longing, desire, affection to the property, or respect or
honor to its guarantor.
Sentimental value vs. Goodwill
• Sentimental value is the personal attachment of the owner to the
property, while Goodwill refers to the public patronage to one’s
business a shop, resort, hotel, restaurant, commercial establishment
which enhances its public image, attraction and reputation.
 Cases that moral damages may be
recovered:
1. A criminal offense resulting in physical injuries- personally
suffered by the plaintiff which must be proved by testimonial
evidence.
Mere sympathy for close relative’s physical injuries will not
justify grant of moral damages to the sympathizer even if he
suffered mental anguish as a result thereof ( Strebel vs.
Fiqueras)
A criminal offense which does not result in physical injuries
cannot give rise to moral damages.
2. Quasi-delicts causing physical injuries;
• 3. Seduction, abduction, rape or other lasciviousness acts;
in rape cases it has been held that moral damages is automatically
made without need of proof for it is assumed that the complainant
has sustained mental, physical and psychological sufferings (People
vs. Baygar).
When the fact of rape had been proved, moral damages are
automatically granted without need of any proof (people vs. Padilla,
301 SCRA 265).
4. Adultery or concubinage;
The adulterous wife who is found guilty of adultery which caused great
pains and mental anguish is liable for moral damages and other
appropriate damages. Conversely, a husband who is found guilty of
concubinage is liable for moral damages and other appropriate damages
to his wife.
Bigamy is not included in the enumeration. Hence, there is no legal
basis for the imposition of moral damages (People vs. Bondoc).
5. Illegal or arbitrary detention or arrest
The offender whether public officer or private person is liable for
damages. If the crime was committed with abuse of public position,
award of exemplary damages is also justified (People vs. Reyes, 69 SCRA
474)
6. Illegal search;
 if the warrant issued by the judge did not conform with the requisites of
the law, and therefore, void, or when the search made without warrant is
unjustifiable, whether it is found or discovered afterwards, cannot be used
as evidence against the suspect. The items or articles obtained are the
“fruits of a poisoned tree” ( People vs. Burgos).
7. libel, slander or any form of defamation
Only the offended party may file or initiate an action for defamation.
A dead person may be the object of libel. To blacken the memory of one
who is dead- harm or damage somebody’s reputation.
8. Malicious prosecution
To constitute malicious prosecution, there must be proof that the prosecution was
prompted by a sinister design to vex and humiliate a person and that it was initiated
deliberately, knowing that the charges were false and groundless.
The liability for malicious prosecution applies to both criminal and civil actions. Malice and
probable cause must concur (Tan vs. CA, 131 SCRA 397).
9. Acts mentioned in Article 309- any person who shows disrespect to the dead , or
wrongfully interferes with funeral shall be liable to the family of the deceased for damages
material and moral.
An undertaker who removed a dead body from its place and refused to disclose its
whereabouts is liable for damages (Veleda vs. Gaza)
Performing an unauthorized autopsy on a dead body; withholding it from those entitled to
its possession ,or unauthorized disposal from its grave are actionable wrongs.
10. Acts and actions referred to in articles 21,26,27,29,30,32,34 and 35.
Purpose of Moral Damages
• Moral damages are not intended to enrich the complainant
but to serve to obviate his/her spiritual suffering by reason
of the action of the defendant (Benguet Electric cooperative,
inc. vs. CA)

• Moral damages are not presumed. They cannot be granted

on the basis of personal knowledge of the judge nor on the
basis of written enumeration (people vs. Panega)
Requisites for award of moral damages
• 1. there must be an injury, whether physical, mental or
psychological, clearly sustained by the claimant;
• 2. there must be culpable act or omission factually
established;
• 3. the wrongful act or omission of the defendant is the
proximate cause of the injury sustained by the claimant; and
• 4. the award of damages is predicated on any of the cases
stated in Art 2219 of the Civil Code.
• Art. 2220. willful injury to property may be a legal ground for
awarding moral damages if the court should find that, under the
circumstance, such damages are justly due. The same rule applies to
breaches of contract where the defendant acted fraudulently or in
bad faith.
Willful injury to the property of another entitles the latter to an awrd
of moral damages.
Breaches of contract do not justify moral damages unless it be
proved that the defendant has acted fraudulently or in bad faith.
• Erwin Tulfo vs. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES and and ATTY. CARLOS T. SO
“PINAKAMAYAMAN SA CUSTOMS Ito palang si Atty. Ding So ng Intelligence Division ng Bureau of
Customs and [sic] pinakamayaman na yata na government official sa buong bansa sa pangungurakot
lamang diyan sa South Harbor. Hindi matibag ang gagong attorney dahil malakas daw ito sa Iglesia ni
Kristo. Hoy, So! . . nakakahiya ka sa mga INC, ikaw na yata ang pinakagago at magnanakaw na
miyembro nito. Balita ko, malapit ka nang itiwalag ng nasabing simbahan dahil sa mga kalokohan
mo. Abangan bukas ang mga raket ni So sa BOC.”
• And while on the subject of moral damages, it may not be amiss to state at this juncture that
Tulfos libelous articles are abhorrent not only because of its vilifying and demeaning effect on
Atty. So himself, but also because of their impact on members of his family, especially on the
children and possibly even the childrens children.
• The Court can perhaps take judicial notice that the sense of kinship runs deeply in a typical
Filipino family, such that the whole family usually suffers or rejoices at the misfortune or good
fortune, as the case may be, of any of its member. Accordingly, any attempt to dishonor or
besmirch the name and reputation of the head of the family, as here, invariably puts the other
members in a state of disrepute, distress, or anxiety. This reality adds an imperative dimension
to the award of moral damages to the defamed party.
• Lopez v. Pan American World Airways

Plaintiffs were entitled to moral damages as they are recoverable “in breach
of contracts where the defendant acted fraudulently or in bad
faith.” Plaintiffs suffered, among others, social humiliation when they were
compelled to travel as such. “As a proximate result of defendant’s breach in
bad faith of its contracts with plaintiffs, the latter suffered social humiliation,
wounded feelings, serious anxiety and mental anguish. For plaintiffs were
travelling with first class tickets issued by defendant and yet they were given
only the tourist class. At stop-overs, they were expected to be among the
first-class passengers by those awaiting to welcome them, only to be found
among the tourist passengers. It may not be humiliating to travel as tourist
passengers; it is humiliating to be compelled to travel as such, contrary to
what is rightfully to be expected from the contractual undertaking.”
• Damages in sexual harassment.- an employee is liable to pay moral
damages to an employee subjected to sexual harassment, for the
anxiety, the seen and unseen hurt that she suffered ( Philippine
Aeolous Automotive United Corporation vs. NLRC).
• Disconnection of electricity without prior notice constitute breach of
contract.
• NOTE: The award of moral damages cannot be granted in favor of a
corporation because, being an artificial person, it has no feelings, no
emotions, experience physical suffering and mental anguish which
can be experienced only by one having a nervous system.