12
difference is palpable that it would not require further
disquisition.
2.13. Interestingly, even the rules relied by some of the respondents,
i.e. Section 14, Rule 15 of the Rules of Court, allow the extraterritorial
service of summons “in any other manner the court may deem
sufficient.”
“Section 15. Extraterritorial service. — When the
defendant does not reside and is not found in the
Philippines, and the action affects the personal status of the
plaintiff or relates to, or the subject of which is, property
within the Philippines, in which the defendant has or claims
a lien or interest, actual or contingent, or in which the relief
demanded consists, wholly or in part, in excluding the
defendant from any interest therein, or the property of the
defendant has been attached within the Philippines, service
may, by leave of court, be effected out of the Philippines by
personal service as under section 6; or by publication in a
newspaper of general circulation in such places and for
such time as the court may order, in which case a copy of
the summons and order of the court shall be sent by
registered mail to the last known address of the defendant,
or in any other manner the court may deem
sufficient….”27
2.14. Here, the Honorable Commission deemed sufficient the
service of Petition and Order, which required respondents to respond
within forty-five (45) days to the Petition, through courier. What is
important is that the parties were served with the Petition and Order, fully
apprising them of this case and giving them the opportunity to be heard, as
respondents did when they filed their respective responses to the Petition.
2.15. Given the foregoing discussion, the argument as to service
through respondents’ registered agent in the Philippines must, likewise,
necessarily fail.
B.2. For investigation purposes, respondents are
impleaded in the Petition as corporate groups
and as they are publicly known.
2.16. In the letter dated 02 September 2016 sent by respondent
Chevron Corporation (hereinafter, “Chevron”), through its managing
counsel, for the stated purpose of returning the copies of the Petition and the
Honorable Commission’s Order, respondent Chevron avoided providing a
meaningful response by claiming that “the package does not indicate a
27
Section 14, Rule 15 of the Rules of Court.