FACTS: On April 8, 1976, F/B Marjolea, a fishing boat owned by the petitioners Ernesto

Kramer, Jr. and Marta Kramer, was navigating its way from Marinduque to Manila.
Somewhere near Maricabon Island and Cape Santiago, the boat figured in a collision with an
inter-island vessel, the M/V Asia Philippines owned by the private respondent Trans-Asia
Shipping Lines, Inc. As a consequence of the collision, the F/B Marjolea sank, taking with it
its fish catch.

After the mishap, the captains of both vessels filed their respective marine protests with the
Board of Marine Inquiry of the Philippine Coast Guard. The Board conducted an
investigation for the purpose of determining the proximate cause of the maritime collision.
The Board concluded that the loss of the F/B Marjolea and its fish catch was attributable to
the negligence of the employees of the private respondent who were on board the M/V Asia
Philippines during the collision.

On May 30, 1985, 9 years after the incident, the petitioners instituted a Complaint for
damages against the private respondent the Regional Trial Court. The Respondents argued
that under Article 1146 of the Civil Code, the prescriptive period for instituting a Complaint
for damages arising from a quasi-delict like a maritime collision is four years. He maintained
that the petitioners should have filed their Complaint within four years from the date when
their cause of action accrued, i.e., from April 8, 1976 when the maritime collision took place,
the Complaint filed on May 30, 1985 was instituted beyond the four-year prescriptive
period.

The Petitioners contended that maritime collisions have peculiarities and characteristics
which only persons with special skill, training and experience like the members of the
Board of Marine Inquiry can properly analyze and resolve. The petitioners argued that the
running of the prescriptive period was tolled by the filing of the marine protest and that
their cause of action accrued only on April 29, 1982, the date when the Decision
ascertaining the negligence of the crew of the M/V Asia Philippines had become final, and
that the four-year prescriptive period under Article 1146 of the Civil Code should be
computed from the said date.

ISSUE: Whether or not the prescriptive period for filing the complaint has been prescribed

HELD: The trial court observed that in ascertaining negligence relating to a maritime
collision, there is a need to rely on highly technical aspects attendant to such collision, and
that the Board of Marine Inquiry was constituted pursuant to the Philippine Merchant
Marine Rules and Regulations. The trial court went on to say that the four-year prescriptive
period provided in Article 1146 of the Civil Code should begin to run only from April 29,
1982, the date when the negligence of the crew of the M/V Asia Philippines had been finally
ascertained.

The Court of Appeals said that private respondents should have immediately instituted a
complaint for damages based on a quasi-delict within four years from the said marine
incident because its cause of action had already definitely ripened at the onset of the
collision.

The petition is devoid of merit. Under Article 1146 of the Civil Code, an action based upon a
quasi-delict must be instituted within four (4) years. The prescriptive period begins from
the day the quasi-delict is committed.
In Espanol vs. Chairman, Philippine Veterans Administration, 17 this Court held as follows:

The right of action accrues when there exists a cause of action, which
consists of 3 elements, namely:

a. a right in favor of the plaintiff by whatever means and under whatever

law it arises or is created;
b. an obligation on the part of defendant to respect such right; and
c. an act or omission on the part of such defendant violative of the right of
the plaintiff.

It is only when the last element occurs or takes place that it can be said in
law that a cause of action has arisen.

From the foregoing ruling, it is clear that the prescriptive period must be counted when the
last element occurs or takes place, that is, the time of the commission of an act or omission
violative of the right of the plaintiff, which is the time when the cause of action arises.

The aggrieved party need not wait for a determination by an administrative body like
a Board of Marine Inquiry, that the collision was caused by the fault or negligence of
the other party before he can file an action for damages.