October 1915. Hagåtña.
Ana Ulloa Aguon, living in the barrio of San Antonio in Hagåtña, discovers that "her" bull had been stolen during the darkness of night.
According to her, one Vicente Dydasco comes to her later and asks, "Do you know what happened to your bull?" She replied that she didn't, but that she would go to Upi and ask Don Pascual Artero whose bull he slaughtered and salted.
Artero not only raised his own cattle but slaughtered cattle and salted the meat for others, as well. It was part of his business. The salted meat was then sold by the owner of the slaughtered animal.
According to Aguon, Dydasco told her there was no need for her to ask Artero, as he was the one who took the bull to be slaughtered at Upi by Artero because it was rightfully his, not hers.
Aguon then took Dydasco to court and won. Dydasco was ordered to pay the woman $30 (the market value of the bull) and another $75 in court fees. Dydasco appealed the decision to the appellate court.
The higher court ruled that Aguon had indeed "bought" the bull from Dydasco, with deferred payment. When she didn't come through with the payments, however, Dydasco simply took what was still his and made his money from the slaughter. Dydasco won the appeal. Aguon had the bull, but Dydasco never got his money. It was legally, then, still his bull.
Round One : Aguon over Dydasco.
Round Two : Dydasco over Aguon.
No comments:
Post a Comment