G.R. No. 176439 - THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS, VS. BTL CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION.[G.R. No. 176718]BTL CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, VS. THE PRESIDENT OF THE MANILA MISSION OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS AND BPI-MS INSURANCE CORPORATION.D E C I S I

Ruling

Accordingly, COJCOLDS should not pay the amount of P804,460.89 claimed by BTL as additional cost for the same. In similar regard, the COJCOLDS should not be held liable for the costs of the additional works taken under Change Order Nos. 8 to 12 amounting to P344,360.16 as claimed by BTL. As correctly observed by the CA, BTL had, in fact, requested COJCOLDS to make the payments therefor directly to its suppliers in view of its financial losses in another project. [44] Hence, considering that COJCOLDSs payment to BTLs suppliers already covered the costs of said additional works upon its own request and to its own credit, [45] BTL maintains no right to pursue such claim. With BTLs claims for the costs of additional works herein denied, COJCOLDSs total liability to BTL thus stands in the amount of P1,612,017.74 , which represents the unpaid balance of 98% of the contract price, inclusive of the 10% retention money, as previously stated. Having resolved the foregoing issues, the Court now proceeds to determine BTLs liabilities to COJCOLDS. II. Liabilities of BTL to COJCOLDS. Liquidated Damages Due to Delay. BTLs liability to COJCOLDS for liquidated damages is a result of its delay in the performance of its obligations under the Contract. While the fact of BTLs delay has not been seriously disputed in these cases, the Court must, however, resolve the extent of such delay in view of the conflicting findings of the CIAC and the CA on the matter. In these cases, records reveal that BTL sought for a 304-day extension of the original completion deadline of September 15, 2000, broken down as follows: ( a ) 184 days as per Change Order Nos. 1 to 6; [46] and ( b ) 120 days as per Change Order Nos. 8 to 12. [47] However, the architect only recommended that COJCOLDS should only grant BTL extensions of 160 days for the works to be done under Change Order Nos. 1 to 6 and 30 days for Change Order Nos. 8 to 12, or a total of 190 days. Since Article 21.04 [48] of the General Conditions expressly recognizes that the architects recommendations regarding extensions of time should be controlling , the Court upholds the CAs finding that BTL was only granted a 190-day extension (from the original completion deadline) to finish the Medina Project, or until March 24, 2001. Despite such extension, BTL nevertheless failed to complete the same. In fact, as the parties themselves admitted, the Medina Project was only 98% complete when the Contract was terminated. Based on the foregoing, the Court thus finds that BTLs delay should be reckoned from March 25, 2001 (or the day after the above-stated 190-day extension) up until August 17, 2001 (or the day when the Contract was terminated), or a total of 146 days (length of delay). Applying Article 3(B) [49] of the Contract and Article 29.04 [50] of the General Conditions, BTL is therefore liable to pay COJCOLDS liquidated damages in the amount of P12,680.00 multiplied by the length of delay, resulting in a total of P1,851,2