C. Safety of Passengers

Safety of Passengers

Concept

Passenger safety is a central obligation of a common carrier. The law requires a carrier to protect the people it undertakes to transport, not merely to bring them to a destination. In Philippine transportation law, the governing framework depends on the carriage involved: the Civil Code supplies the general rules on common carriers, while the Montreal Convention governs qualifying international carriage by air. (Civil Code, Arts. 1732, 1733 and 1755) (Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, Arts. 1 and 17)

Governing provisions

Under the Civil Code, common carriers are persons or entities engaged in transporting passengers or goods, or both, by land, water, or air, for compensation and offering their services to the public. In carrying passengers, they must exercise extraordinary diligence for passenger safety, according to the circumstances of each case. The Code also addresses the carrier’s responsibility for the acts of its employees and certain acts of other passengers or strangers. (Civil Code, Arts. 1732, 1755, 1759 and 1763)

The Montreal Convention provides a separate treaty framework for international carriage by air. It covers carriage of persons, baggage, or cargo by aircraft for reward, as well as gratuitous carriage performed by an air transport undertaking. For passenger claims, it addresses death or bodily injury caused by an accident under the conditions stated in the Convention. Those conditions, rather than the fact that an aircraft was used, determine whether its passenger-injury rules apply. (Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, Arts. 1 and 17)

Key definitions and scope

For Montreal Convention purposes, international carriage is determined by the parties’ agreed places of departure and destination. It includes carriage between two States Parties, or carriage within one State Party with an agreed stopping place in another State. A flight between two points in one State Party, without an agreed stopping place abroad, is not international carriage under the Convention. The agreed itinerary is therefore the starting point in choosing the applicable framework. (Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, Art. 1)

Distinctions

The Civil Code discussion concerns the carrier’s general duty of care toward passengers across modes of transport. The Montreal Convention discussion concerns treaty-defined international air carriage and its particular grounds for recovery. Keep the two inquiries distinct: first identify the carriage and applicable law; then apply that law’s requirements to the passenger’s claim. (Civil Code, Arts. 1732 and 1755) (Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, Arts. 1 and 17)

Bar tip

Do not assume that a carrier escapes a passenger claim merely because the passenger did not verify the driver’s authority. The riding public need not make that inquiry when the driver is at the wheel; the carrier may be bound by an implied contract of carriage. (Silverio Marchan and Philippine Rabbit Bus Co., Inc. v. Mendoza, G.R. No. L-24471, 30 August 1968)¹