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LRTA vs. Joy Mart Consolidated Inc. [DECISION]

[G.R. No. 211281] LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT AUTHORITY (LRTA), PETITIONER, VS. JOY MART CONSOLIDATED INC.,* AND ISETANN DEPARTMENT STORE, INC. RESPONDENTS. [G.R. No. 212602] JOY MART CONSOLIDATED INC., AND ISETANN DEPARTMENT STORE, INC., PETITIONERS, VS. LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT AUTHORITY (LRTA) AND PHOENIX OMEGA DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, RESPONDENTS.

G.R. No. 211281/G.R. No. 212602 | 2022-02-15

D E C I S I O N
 
CAGUIOA, J:
 
The instant controversy traverses two cases involving two decisive points of query that converge on the interplay between the principle of party autonomy, on the one hand, and the provisions of laws that are imbued with public policy, particularly the requirement of public bidding in government contracts, on the other. Given the question of whether parties to a government contract may do away with the required public bidding, the Court reminds, even as it makes clear that the freedom of contract and the autonomy of the parties thereto are not boundless, they are circumscribed, as this case shows, by...