There is likewise logical basis on record for the claim that the handing over or turning
over of the person of private respondent to Jeddah officials, petitioner may have acted
beyond its duties as employer. Petitioners purported act contributed to and amplified or
even proximately caused additional humiliation, misery and suffering of private
respondent. Petitioner thereby allegedly facilitated the arrest, detention and prosecution
of private respondent under the guise of petitioners authority as employer, taking
advantage of the trust, confidence and faith she reposed upon it. As purportedly found
by the Prince of Makkah, the alleged conviction and imprisonment of private respondent
was wrongful. But these capped the injury or harm allegedly inflicted upon her person
and reputation, for which petitioner could be liable as claimed, to provide compensation
or redress for the wrongs done, once duly proven.
Considering that the complaint in the court a quo is one involving torts, the connecting
factor or point of contact could be the place or places where the tortious conduct or lex
loci actus occurred. And applying the torts principle in a conflicts case, we find that the
Philippines could be said as a situs of the tort (the place where the alleged tortious
conduct took place). This is because it is in the Philippines where petitioner allegedly
deceived private respondent, a Filipina residing and working here. According to her, she
had honestly believed that petitioner would, in the exercise of its rights and in the
performance of its duties, act with justice, give her her due and observe honesty and
good faith. Instead, petitioner failed to protect her, she claimed. That certain acts or
parts of the injury allegedly occurred in another country is of no moment. For in our view
what is important here is the place where the over-all harm or the fatality of the alleged
injury to the person, reputation, social standing and human rights of complainant, had
lodged, according to the plaintiff below (herein private respondent). All told, it is not
without basis to identify the Philippines as the situs of the alleged tort.
Moreover, with the widespread criticism of the traditional rule of lex loci delicti commissi,
modern theories and rules on tort liabilitylxi[61] have been advanced to offer fresh judicial
approaches to arrive at just results. In keeping abreast with the modern theories on tort
liability, we find here an occasion to apply the State of the most significant relationship
rule, which in our view should be appropriate to apply now, given the factual context of
this case.
In applying said principle to determine the State which has the most significant
relationship, the following contacts are to be taken into account and evaluated
according to their relative importance with respect to the particular issue: (a) the place
where the injury occurred; (b) the place where the conduct causing the injury occurred;
(c) the domicile, residence, nationality, place of incorporation and place of business of
the parties, and (d) the place where the relationship, if any, between the parties is
centered.lxii[62]
As already discussed, there is basis for the claim that over-all injury occurred and
lodged in the Philippines. There is likewise no question that private respondent is a
resident Filipina national, working with petitioner, a resident foreign corporation engaged
here in the business of international air carriage. Thus, the relationship between the