G.R. No. 18107 ; August 17, 1922
VIUDA E HIJOS DE F. ESCAÑO, plaintiff-appellee, vs. JOAQUIN NATIVIDAD, Collector of Customs of Cebu, defendant-appellant.

FACTS

The plaintiff corporation operated four vessels (Butuan, Villa de Soncillo, Luisa, and Ormoc), each of less than 100 gross tons, which were propelled by machinery operating through the internal combustion of crude petroleum (gasoline engines). The defendant Collector of Customs required the plaintiff to provide one patron (master) for each vessel under subsection (e) of section 1203 of the Administrative Code, which applied to “Every steam vessel of less than one hundred gross tons.” The plaintiff sought and obtained an injunction from the lower court to stop the defendant from enforcing this requirement, arguing that its gasoline-powered vessels were not “steam vessels.” The defendant appealed.

ISSUE

Whether the phrase “steam vessel” used in subsection (e) of section 1203 of the Administrative Code includes vessels propelled by gasoline engines (internal combustion machinery).

RULING

Yes. The Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s judgment. It ruled that the phrase “steam vessel” includes any vessel propelled by machinery, not only those powered by steam. Citing U.S. statutory construction and jurisprudence (The Nimrod, 173 Fed. Rep., 520), the Court held that vessels propelled by gasoline-operated internal combustion engines fall within the term “steam vessel” as used in the Administrative Code provision. Therefore, the plaintiff was required to comply with the manning requirement of providing a patron for each of its vessels. The complaint was dismissed and the defendant was absolved.