Back

Dev't Bank of the Phil. Vs. Court of Appeals.

DEVELOPMENT BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner, vs. COURT OF APPEALS, JESUS DE JESUS and ALUDIA MARIANO, respondents.

G.R. No. 49410 | 1989-01-26

D E C I S I O N


NARVASA, J.:

Everyone knows that a pre-trial in civil actions is mandatory, and has been so since January 1, 1964. 1 Yet to this day its place in the scheme of things is not fully appreciated, and it receives but perfunctory treatment in many courts. Some courts consider it a mere technicality, serving no useful purpose save perhaps, occasionally to furnish ground for non-suiting the plaintiff, or declaring a defendant in default, or, wistfully, to bring about a compromise. The pre-trial device is not thus put to full use. Hence it has failed in the main to accomplish the chief objective for it: the simplification,...