G.R. NO. 124267 - NATIONAL COMMERCIAL BANK OF SAUDI ARABIA, VS. COURT OF APPEALS AND PHILIPPINE BANKING CORPORATION.R E S O L U T I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, the instant petition for review on certiorari is GRANTED. The Amended Decision of the Court of Appeals dated March 8, 1996 is SET ASIDE and the Resolution of the Regional Trial Court declaring the Motion for Reconsideration filed by the Philippine Banking Corporation is pro forma is REINSTATED. In granting respondents motion, the Court took into consideration the fact that parties belong to the banking industry over which the government has a vital interest and that movants failure to comply with the requirement of notice and hearing when it filed its motion for reconsideration of the trial courts Decision [3] of August 24, 1993 is not commensurate to the severe prejudice it would suffer in light of the seeming error of the trial court in imposing the interest on the judgment obligation, the correctness of which interest respondent raised for the first time in its motion at bar. As the case has been pending for more than nineteen years, this Court ordered the trial court (Regional Trial Court of Makati City) and the Court of Appeals to elevate all the records of the case for final resolution. Upon this Courts directive, petitioner National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia and the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Inc. (successor of movant respondent Philippine Banking Corporation) filed their memoranda on October 14, 2004 and October 29, 2004, respectively. On December 7, 2004, the parties, through their respective counsels, filed a joint motion [4] before this Court for approval of an undated compromise agreement which was executed for the purpose of ending the longstanding litigation. The Compromise Agreement [5] reads as follows: This Agreement entered into this _____ (sic) day of ____ (sic), 2004 in Makati City by and between: The National Commercial Bank, Saudi Arabia , a company engaged in banking, duly organized and existing under the laws of Saudi Arabia, with principal office at King Abdul Aziz Street, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, hereinafter referred to as NCB and represented herein by its Head, International Banking, MR. ALAA AL JABRI; And METROPOLITAN BANK & TRUST COMPANY , a universal banking corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the Philippines, with principal office address at Metrobank Plaza, Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City, as successor-in-interest of PHILIPPINE BANKING CORPORATION (PBC) hereinafter referred to as METROBANK, and represented herein by its Senior Executive Vice President ANGELITO M. VILLANUEVA. WHEREAS, on December 4, 1985, NCB [National Commercial Bank, Saudi Arabia] filed a complaint against PBC [Philippine Banking Corporation] to recover duplicate payment of the proceeds of letters of credit in the aggregate amount of US$971,919.75, said case is docketed as Civil Case No. 12419 Regional Trial Court (RTC) Makati City Branch 134; WHEREAS, on August 24, 1993, the RTC rendered a decision the dispositive portion of which reads: WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered in favor of plaintiff