Art. 2199. Except as provided by law or by stipulation, one is entitled to
an adequate compensation only for such pecuniary loss suffered by him as he
has duly proved. Such compensation is referred to as actual or compensatory
damages.
Article 2200. Indemnification for damages shall comprehend not only
the value of the loss suffered, but also that of the profits which the obligee failed
to obtain.
In order to give breath to the aforestated provisions on damages of the New Civil
Code, they must be transformed into a more tangible and practical mathematical
form, so that the purpose of the law to indemnify the employee or his heirs for his
death or injury occasioned by his employment, as envisioned by the Article 1711
of the same code may be realized. We deem it best to adopt the formula for loss of
earning capacity enunciated in the case of Villa Rey v. Court of Appeals,[23] in
computing the amount of actual damages to be awarded to the claimant under
Article 1711 of the New Civil Code.
In Villa Rey, the common carrier was made liable for the death of its passenger on
board a passenger bus owned and operated by Villa Rey Transit, Inc. going
toManila from Lingayen, Pangasinan. While
the
bus
was
nearing Sadsaran Bridge in Barrio Sto. Domingo, Minalin, Pampanga, it frontally
hit the rear side of bull cart filled with hay and bamboo poles. The protruding end
of one bamboo pole, about eight feet long, penetrated through the glass windshield
of the bus and hit the face ofPolicarpio Quintos, Jr., who was then sitting at the
front row, causing his death.[24]
The obligation of the common carrier to indemnify its passenger or his heirs for
injury or death arose from the contract of carriage entered into by the common
carrier and the passenger.[25] By the very nature of the obligation which is imbued
with public interest,[26] in contract of carriage the carrier assumes the express
obligation to transport its passenger to his destination safely and to observe
extraordinary diligence with due regard to all the circumstances, and any injury