I was partly careless myself when the accident happened — does that stop me from recovering any damages at all?

Mitigation, not a bar

The article says what it says and no more: in quasi-delicts, the contributory negligence of the plaintiff shall reduce the damages that he may recover. It reduces; it does not extinguish. Philippine law does not treat a claimant's share of the blame as a switch that turns the whole loss back onto him, which is exactly the assumption that keeps injured people from asking about their rights at all. If you crossed away from the pedestrian lane, rode without a helmet or were going faster than you should have been, you have an argument about proportion ahead of you, not a closed door.

Contributory negligence is different from being the cause

There is a line that matters more than the percentage. Liability begins with Article 2176: whoever by act or omission causes damage to another, there being fault or negligence, is obliged to pay for the damage done. If the other party's negligence did not cause your injury — if your own conduct was the thing that produced it — then there is no liability to reduce and Article 2214 never comes into play. Contributory negligence assumes a defendant who is liable and asks how much of the loss the claimant contributed to. Losing sight of that distinction is how a case is argued in the wrong register.

What gets reduced, and by how much

The reduction applies to the recovery as a whole rather than to one item of it, so it reaches the compensatory figure and the moral award alike. As to size, the article supplies no percentage, no table and no starting point — Philippine law has never fixed one, and any confident fraction quoted to you at the outset is somebody's guess. It is assessed on the facts of the collision. What the reduction responds to is how far your own want of care actually contributed to the harm, which is a matter of evidence about the moments before impact.

The thing people damage before they see a lawyer

Fault is apportioned from a record made at the scene and in the hours after it, and claimants routinely weaken their own position there. An apology at the roadside, a statement given while concussed, or a settlement signed for the cost of repairs can all be produced later as an admission. Say what happened, accurately and briefly, and nothing about blame. Photograph positions before the vehicles are moved, note the light and the road surface, and get the details of witnesses who saw the approach rather than only the noise.

Related provisions

• Civil Code, Article 2176 — Quasi-Delict Defined (Culpa Aquiliana)
• Civil Code, Article 2202 — Damages in Crimes and Quasi-Delicts