Legal Meaning of Damages in the

Philippines
The term “damages” was defined by the Supreme Court in the case of MEA Builders, Inc. v.
Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 121484, 31 January 2005), as the sum of money which the law
awards or imposes as a pecuniary compensation, a recompense, or satisfaction for an
injury done or a wrong sustained as a consequence either of a breach of a contractual
obligation or a tortious act.

In Philippine laws, there are six kinds of damages, namely:

1. Actual or compensatory Damages

2. Moral Damages
3. Exemplary or corrective Damages
4. Liquidated Damages
5. Nominal Damages
6. Temperate or moderate Damages

Kinds of Damages under Philippine

Law
Actual or compensatory damages are those awarded in satisfaction of, or in recompense
for, loss or injury sustained. They simply make good or replace the loss caused by the
wrong. (Mariano Mendoza vs. Leonora Gomez, G.R. No. 160110, June 18, 2014)

Moral damages are awarded to enable the injured party to obtain means, diversions or
amusements that will serve to alleviate the moral suffering he has undergone, by reason of
the defendant’s culpable action. (Kierulf vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 99301, 13 March
1997)

Article 2229 of the Civil Code provides that exemplary or corrective damages are imposed,
by way of example or correction for the public good, in addition to moral, temperate,
liquidated or compensatory damages. Article 2231 of the same Code further states that
in quasi-delicts, exemplary damages may be granted if the defendant acted with gross
negligence. (Mariano Mendoza vs. Leonora Gomez, G.R. No. 160110, June 18, 2014)

Under Article 2226 of the Civil Code, liquidated damages are those agreed upon by the
parties to a contract, to be paid in case of breach thereof. the parties to a contract are
allowed to stipulate on liquidated damages to be paid in case of breach. It is attached to an
obligation in order to ensure performance and has a double function: (1) to provide for
liquidated damages, and (2) to strengthen the coercive force of the obligation by the threat
of greater responsibility in the event of breach. The amount agreed upon answers for
damages suffered by the owner due to delays in the completion of the project. As a pre-
condition to such award, however, there must be proof of the fact of delay in the
performance of the obligation. (Atlantic Erectors, Inc., vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. No.
170732, 11 October 2012)

Under Article 2224 of the New Civil Code, temperate damages may be recovered when
pecuniary loss has been suffered but the amount cannot, from the nature of the case, be
proven with certainty. In such cases, the amount of the award is left to the discretion of the
courts, according to the circumstances of each case, but the same should be reasonable,
bearing in mind that temperate damages should be more than nominal but less than
compensatory. (Republic of the Philippines vs. Alberto Looyuko, G.R. No. 170966, 22
June 2016)

Under Article 2221 of the Civil Code, nominal damages may be awarded in order that the
plaintiff’s right, which has been violated or invaded by the defendant, may be vindicated or
recognized, and not for the purpose of indemnifying the plaintiff for any loss suffered. 
Nominal damages are ‘recoverable where a legal right is technically violated and must be
vindicated against an invasion that has produced no actual present loss of any kind or
where there has been a breach of contract and no substantial injury or actual damages
whatsoever have been or can be shown. (Seven Brothers Shipping Corporation vs.
DMC-Construction Resources, Inc., G.R. No. 193914, 26 November 2014)