Sps. Enrique and Consuelo Lim V CA

(8) Sps.
ENRIQUE and CONSUELO LIM v

Oscar C. Guevarra, one of the pRs, indicated the required conformity.
CA, Sps. TERESITA and OSCAR GUEVARRA, Sps. MARCOS and ANITA ORLINO, Sps.
ROMULO and CONSUELO ORLINO and Sps. FELIX and DOLORES ORLINO
Nov 2, 1978: PBC advised the pRs that if the transaction was not finalized within
February 23, 1990
30 days, it would consider the offer of other buyers.
Conditional Contract of Sale
CRUZ, J.
June 8, 1979: the pRs requested PBC to allow them to secure a certified true copy
FACTS:
of its Torrens certificate over the land for purposes of its survey and partition
The subject of this controversy is a parcel of land consisting of 1,101 square
among them preparatory to the actual transfer of title to them. PBC granted the
meters and located in Diliman, QC. It was originally owned by Felix, Manuel and request subject to the condition that title would remain with it until the
Maria Concepcion Orlino, who mortgaged it to the Progressive Commercial Bank execution of the necessary deed of conveyance.
as security for a P100k loan on July 1, 1965. The loan not having been paid, the
mortgage was foreclosed and the bank acquired the property as the highest
2 years later, PBC reminded the pRs of its letter of Nov 2, 1978, but again no
bidder at the auction sale on March 28, 1969. The mortgagee thereafter
action was taken to deliver to it the stipulated consideration for the sale.
transferred all its assets, including the said land, to the Pacific Banking
Corporation.
Finally, on May 14, 1980, PBC executed a DoS over the land in favor of the Ps Sps
Enrique and Consuelo Lim, for the sum of P300k
May 22, 1975: the Orlinos, and their respective spouses, who had remained in
possession of the land, made a written offer to PBC to repurchase the property. Sep 30, 1980: the pRs filed a complaint in the RTC QC against the Ps and PBC for
In response, the bank, through its Assistant VP, sent the following letter dated the annulment of the DoS on the ground that the subject land had been earlier
Nov 9, 1977, to the pRs' counsel:
sold to them.
This will confirm our agreement concerning the repurchase by your clients, Mr. and Mrs.
Oscar C. Guevarra of that certain property situated at 26 Jose Abad Santos, Heroes Hills,
QC with an area of 1,1 01 sqm, more or less, under the following terms and conditions:
a)
The cash consideration shall be P160k payable in full upon signing of the Deed of
Absolute Sale;
b)
The additional consideration shall consist of your client's conveyance to us of
their share of 2,901.15 sqm on the property situated at Camarin, Caloocan City.
RTC QC ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. RTC held that both PBC and the spouses
Lim had acted in bad faith when they concluded the sale knowing that "there
was a cloud in the status of the property in question."
The decision was affirmed in toto by the CA. Hence this petition.
-------------------------------------Ps: they are purchasers in good faith, having relied on the assurances of PBC as
verified from the records in the RoD of QC that the land belonged to PBC and
We understand that your clients will be applying for a loan with a bank. In this
was unencumbered. They therefore should have preferential right to the
connection, we are enclosing a xerox copy of the TCT 218661 QC, Tax Declaration No. 3092 disputed land, which they had registered in their name under TCT No. 268623.
and Official Receipt No. E-404723 covering payment of real estate taxes for 1977. Kindly
request your clients to expedite the loan so that we can consummate the transaction as pRs: they had a valid and binding earlier deed of sale in their favor, the land
soon as possible.
could no longer be sold by PBC to the Ps, who were aware of their prior right.
---------------------------------------Please request your clients to sign their conformity below and return the duplicate
Was the transaction between private respondents and PBC, as embodied in
thereof for our files.
the letter of November 9, 1977, a contract to sell or a contract of sale?
Held: Contract to Sell

not be given. It is true that the rescinding party takes a risk that its action may
According to Sing Yee v. Santos:
not be approved by the court. But as we said in UP v. De los Angeles:
... A distinction must be made between a contract of sale in which title passes to the buyer
upon delivery of the thing sold and a contract to sell (or of exclusive right and privilege to In other words, the party who deems the contract violated may consider it resolved or
purchase as in this case) where by agreement the ownership is reserved in the seller and rescinded, and act accordingly, without previous court action, but it proceeds at its own
is not to pass until the full payment of the purchase price is made. In the first case, non- risk. For it is only the final judgment of the corresponding court that will conclusively
payment of the price is a negative resolutory condition; in the second case, full payment and finally settle whether the action taken was or was not correct in law. But the law
is a positive suspensive condition. Being contraries, their effect in law cannot be Identical. definitely does not require that the contracting party who believes itself injured must
In the first case, the vendor has lost and cannot recover the ownership of the land sold
first file suit and wait for a judgment before taking extrajudicial steps to protect its
until and unless the contract of sale is itself resolved and set aside. In the second case,
interest. Otherwise, the party injured by the other's breach will have to passively sit and
however, the title remains in the vendor if the vendee does not comply with the condition watch its damages accumulate during the pendency of the suit until final judgment of
precedent of making payment at the time specified in the contract.
rescission is rendered when the law itself requires that he should exercise due diligence to
minimize its own damages.
Applying these distinctions, the Court finds that the agreement between PBC
and the private respondents was only a contract to sell, not a contact of sale.
In the case at bar, the pRs obligated themselves to deliver to the bank the sum of
P160k and their share of 2,901.15 sqm on a property situated in Caloocan City. In
There was no immediate transfer of title to the pRs as would have happened if the letter of PBC dated November 9, 1977, they were requested to "expedite the
there had been a sale at the outset. The supposed sale was never registered and loan so we can consummate the transaction as soon as possible". That was in
TCT No. 218661 in favor of PBC was not replaced with another certificate of title 1977. In 1978, they were reminded of their obligation and asked to comply
in favor of the pRs. In their letter to PBC on June 8, 1979, they acknowledged
within 30 days. They did not. On April 8, 1980, they were reminded of that letter
that title to the property would remain with the bank until their transaction
of November 2, 1978, and again asked to comply; but again they did not. Surely,
shall have been finalized. In response, PBC reiterated the same condition. No less the bank could not be required to wait for them forever, especially so since they
important, the consideration agreed upon by the parties was never paid by the remained in possession of the property and there is no record that they were
pRs, to convert the agreement into a contract of sale. In fact, PBC reminded
paying rentals. Under the circumstances, PBC had the right to consider the
them twice on November 2, 1978, and on April 8, 1980 to comply with their contract to sell between them terminated for non-payment of the stipulated
obligations. They did not. Their default was not, "a slight delay" but lasted for all consideration. We hereby confirm that rescission.
of three years and in fact continued up to the rendition of the decision in the
trial court. As payment of the consideration was a positive suspensive condition, The pRs lost all legal interest in the land when their contract to sell was
title to the subject property never passed to the private respondents. Hence, the rescinded by PBC for their non-compliance with its provisions. As that contract
property was legally unencumbered and still belonged to PBC on May 14, 1980, was no longer effective when the land was sold by PBC to the Ps, the pRs had no
when it was sold by the bank to the petitioners.
legal standing to assail that subsequent transaction. The DoS between PBC and
the Ps must therefore be sustained.
It is true that the contract to sell imposes reciprocal obligations and so cannot
be terminated unilaterally by either party. Judicial rescission is required under DISPOSITIVE: the petition is GRANTED and the challenged decision of the CA is
A1191 of the Civil Code. However, this rule is not absolute. We have held that in REVERSED. TCT No. 268623 in favor of the Ps is recognized as valid and the
proper cases, a party may take it upon itself to consider the contract rescinded complaint for the annulment of the DoS is hereby dismissed. Costs against the
and act accordingly albeit subject to judicial confirmation, which may or may pRs.

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(8) Sps.

ENRIQUE and CONSUELO LIM v

Held: Contract to Sell

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