Nun abuses child. Made to pay damages.

**gearhead** · August 19th, 2008 10:14 AM

Note: Wonder why they never thought of this before?

Nun abuses child. Made to pay damages
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:34:00 08/19/2008

MANILA, Philippines – The Court of Appeals has ordered Aquinas School in San Juan City and one of its former employees – a nun who used to teach religion – to pay P50,000 to the parents of a young boy whom she had subjected to physical abuse.
The Aug. 4 ruling upheld the decision of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court ordering Sis. Margarita Yamyamin in June 2006 to pay P25,000 in moral damages, P25,000 in exemplary damages and P10,000 in attorney’s fees to Jose and Ma. Victoria Inton.
Although the appellate court denied the Intons’ plea to raise the amount of damages awarded to them, it reversed the lower court’s ruling that the school should not be held liable for the incident.
The Intons filed criminal and civil cases against Yamyamin after she was accused of kicking their son and pounding his head on a chair. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three to five years in prison in 1999.
Yamyamin said in her defense that the boy had been recalcitrant and abusive which was why she “accidentally” used disciplinary measures with more strength than she had intended. She claimed that she caught the boy teasing a classmate for the second time.
The school, for its part, said it was not liable for monetary damages because Yamyamin was not its employee. The nun, it added, had been assigned by her religious congregation to teach at the school without any salary.
The Intons brought the case to the appellate court because they were dissatisfied with the amount of damages awarded to them considering the emotional and psychological trauma that their son had suffered. They also said the school should be held liable for the incident.
But the appellate court ruling penned by Justice Vicente Veloso said that the P25,000 in moral damages was enough, since such an award is not meant to make the victim richer.
“The award is in fact consistent with the rule that moral damages are not intended to enrich the injured party, but to alleviate the moral suffering he has undergone by reason of defendant’s culpable action,” it said.
The court added that the P25,000 in exemplary damages was correct as well, since it is given to set an example for others not to follow a wrong act.
In holding Aquinas liable for damages as well, the appellate court pointed out that though Yamyamin did not receive a salary, she was considered an employee because she was under its control or supervision.
And even if Yamyamin were not a school employee, Aquinas would still be held liable for damages because it had a contract with the student and was obliged to provide him with a safe atmosphere for learning, the court stressed.

**Altis6453** · August 19th, 2008 10:55 AM

If you ask me, the school got off lightly with the amount they were made to pay. If I were the parent, I wouldn't even allow my child to go to the same school considering the trauma that he got. I'd make the school pay for tuition and other expenses in transferring to another school.