665 Phil. 425
MENDOZA, J.:
1. That the conditional sale will be cancelled if the plaintiff (petitioner) can find a buyer of said properties for the amount of P6,500,000.00 within the next three (3) months provided all amounts received by the plaintiff from the defendant (respondent) including payments actually made by defendant to Farmers Savings and Loan Bank would be refunded to the defendant with additional interest of six (6%) monthly;
2. That the plaintiff would continue using the space occupied by her and drugstore and cosmetics store without any rentals for the duration of the installment payments;
3. That there will be a lease for fifteen (15) years in favor of the plaintiff over the space for drugstore and cosmetics store at a monthly rental of only P8,000.00 after full payment of the stipulated installment payments are made by the defendant;
4. That the defendant will undertake the renewal and payment of the fire insurance policies on the two (2) subject buildings following the expiration of the then existing fire insurance policy of the plaintiff up to the time that plaintiff is fully paid of the total purchase price of P4,200,000.00.[3]
a) P200,000.00 - due January 31, 1991
b) P200,000.00 - due June 30, 1991
c) P800,000.00 - due December 31, 1991
WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered as follows:
1. Allowing the defendant to pay the plaintiff within thirty (30) days from the finality hereof the amount of P805,000.00, representing the unpaid purchase price of the subject property, with interest thereon at 2% a month from January 1, 1992 until fully paid. Failure of the defendant to pay said amount within the said period shall cause the automatic rescission of the contract (Deed of Conditional Sale of Real Property with Assumption of Mortgage) and the plaintiff and the defendant shall be restored to their former positions relative to the subject property with each returning to the other whatever benefits each derived from the transaction;
2. Directing the defendant to allow the plaintiff to continue using the space occupied by her for drugstore and cosmetic store without any rental pending payment of the aforesaid balance of the purchase price.
3. Ordering the defendant, upon her full payment of the purchase price together with interest, to execute a contract of lease for fifteen (15) years in favor of the plaintiff over the space for the drugstore and cosmetic store at a fixed monthly rental of P8,000.00; and
4. Directing the plaintiff, upon full payment to her by the defendant of the purchase price together with interest, to execute the necessary deed of sale, as well as to pay the Capital Gains Tax, documentary stamps and other miscellaneous expenses necessary for securing the BIR Clearance, and to pay the real estate taxes due on the subject property up to 1990, all necessary to transfer ownership of the subject property to the defendant.
No pronouncement as to damages, attorney's fees and costs.
SO ORDERED.[5]
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Decision dated 22 February 2006 and Order dated 22 December 2006 of the Regional Trial Court of Valenzuela City, Branch 172 in Civil Case No. 3945-V-92 are AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION in that defendant-appellant Victoria T. Tuparan is hereby ORDERED to pay plaintiff-appellee/appellant Mila A. Reyes, within 30 days from finality of this Decision, the amount of ?805,000.00 representing the unpaid balance of the purchase price of the subject property, plus interest thereon at the rate of 6% per annum from 11 September 1992 up to finality of this Decision and, thereafter, at the rate of 12% per annum until full payment. The ruling of the trial court on the automatic rescission of the Deed of Conditional Sale with Assumption of Mortgage is hereby DELETED. Subject to the foregoing, the dispositive portion of the trial court's decision is AFFIRMED in all other respects.
SO ORDERED.[6]
ASSIGNMENT OF ERRORS
A. THE COURT OF APPEALS SERIOUSLY ERRED AND ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN DISALLOWING THE OUTRIGHT RESCISSION OF THE SUBJECT DEED OF CONDITIONAL SALE OF REAL PROPERTIES WITH ASSUMPTION OF MORTGAGE ON THE GROUND THAT RESPONDENT TUPARAN'S FAILURE TO PAY PETITIONER REYES THE BALANCE OF THE PURCHASE PRICE OF P805,000.00 IS NOT A BREACH OF CONTRACT DESPITE ITS OWN FINDINGS THAT PETITIONER STILL RETAINS OWNERSHIP AND TITLE OVER THE SUBJECT REAL PROPERTIES DUE TO RESPONDENT'S REFUSAL TO PAY THE BALANCE OF THE TOTAL PURCHASE PRICE OF P805,000.00 WHICH IS EQUAL TO 20% OF THE TOTAL PURCHASE PRICE OF P4,200,000.00 OR 66% OF THE STIPULATED LAST INSTALLMENT OF P1,200,000.00 PLUS THE INTEREST THEREON. IN EFFECT, THE COURT OF APPEALS AFFIRMED AND ADOPTED THE TRIAL COURT'S CONCLUSION THAT THE RESPONDENT'S NON-PAYMENT OF THE P805,000.00 IS ONLY A SLIGHT OR CASUAL BREACH OF CONTRACT.
B. THE COURT OF APPEALS SERIOUSLY ERRED AND ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN DISREGARDING AS GROUND FOR THE RESCISSION OF THE SUBJECT CONTRACT THE OTHER FRAUDULENT AND MALICIOUS ACTS COMMITTED BY THE RESPONDENT AGAINST THE PETITIONER WHICH BY THEMSELVES SUFFICIENTLY JUSTIFY A DENIAL OF A GRACE PERIOD OF THIRTY (30) DAYS TO THE RESPONDENT WITHIN WHICH TO PAY TO THE PETITIONER THE P805,000.00 PLUS INTEREST THEREON.
C. EVEN ASSUMING ARGUENDO THAT PETITIONER IS NOT ENTITLED TO THE RESCISSION OF THE SUBJECT CONTRACT, THE COURT OF APPEALS STILL SERIOUSLY ERRED AND ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN REDUCING THE INTEREST ON THE P805,000.00 TO ONLY "6% PER ANNUM STARTING FROM THE DATE OF FILING OF THE COMPLAINT ON SEPTEMBER 11, 1992" DESPITE THE PERSONAL COMMITMENT OF THE RESPONDENT AND AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE PARTIES THAT RESPONDENT WILL PAY INTEREST ON THE P805,000.00 AT THE RATE OF 6% MONTHLY STARTING THE DATE OF DELINQUENCY ON DECEMBER 31, 1991.
D. THE COURT OF APPEALS SERIOUSLY ERRED AND ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN THE APPRECIATION AND/OR MISAPPRECIATION OF FACTS RESULTING INTO THE DENIAL OF THE CLAIM OF PETITIONER REYES FOR ACTUAL DAMAGES WHICH CORRESPOND TO THE MILLIONS OF PESOS OF RENTALS/FRUITS OF THE SUBJECT REAL PROPERTIES WHICH RESPONDENT TUPARAN COLLECTED CONTINUOUSLY SINCE DECEMBER 1990, EVEN WITH THE UNPAID BALANCE OF P805,000.00 AND DESPITE THE FACT THAT RESPONDENT DID NOT CONTROVERT SUCH CLAIM OF THE PETITIONER AS CONTAINED IN HER AMENDED COMPLAINT DATED APRIL 22, 2006.
E. THE COURT OF APPEALS SERIOUSLY ERRED AND ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN THE APPRECIATION OF FACTS RESULTING INTO THE DENIAL OF THE CLAIM OF PETITIONER REYES FOR THE P29,609.00 BACK RENTALS THAT WERE COLLECTED BY RESPONDENT TUPARAN FROM THE OLD TENANTS OF THE PETITIONER.
F. THE COURT OF APPEALS SERIOUSLY ERRED AND ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN DENYING THE PETITIONER'S EARLIER "URGENT MOTION FOR ISSUANCE OF A PRELIMINARY MANDATORY AND PROHIBITORY INJUNCTION" DATED JULY 7, 2008 AND THE "SUPPLEMENT" THERETO DATED AUGUST 4, 2008 THEREBY CONDONING THE UNJUSTIFIABLE FAILURE/REFUSAL OF JUDGE FLORO ALEJO TO RESOLVE WITHIN ELEVEN (11) YEARS THE PETITIONER'S THREE (3) SEPARATE "MOTIONS FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION/ TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER, ACCOUNTING AND DEPOSIT OF RENTAL INCOME" DATED MARCH 17, 1995, AUGUST 19, 1996 AND JANUARY 7, 2006 THEREBY PERMITTING THE RESPONDENT TO UNJUSTLY ENRICH HERSELF BY CONTINUOUSLY COLLECTING ALL THE RENTALS/FRUITS OF THE SUBJECT REAL PROPERTIES WITHOUT ANY ACCOUNTING AND COURT DEPOSIT OF THE COLLECTED RENTALS/FRUITS AND THE PETITIONERS "URGENT MOTION TO DIRECT DEFENDANT VICTORIA TUPARAN TO PAY THE ACCUMULATED UNPAID REAL ESTATE TAXES AND SEF TAXES ON THE SUBJECT REAL PROPERTIES" DATED JANUARY 13, 2007 THEREBY EXPOSING THE SUBJECT REAL PROPERTIES TO IMMINENT AUCTION SALE BY THE CITY TREASURER OF VALENZUELA CITY.
G. THE COURT OF APPEALS SERIOUSLY ERRED AND ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN DENYING THE PETITIONER'S CLAIM FOR MORAL AND EXEMPLARY DAMAGES AND ATTORNEY'S FEES AGAINST THE RESPONDENT.
1. The subject deed of conditional sale is a reciprocal obligation whose outstanding characteristic is reciprocity arising from identity of cause by virtue of which one obligation is correlative of the other.
2. The petitioner was rescinding - not enforcing - the subject Deed of Conditional Sale pursuant to Article 1191 of the Civil Code because of the respondent's failure/refusal to pay the P805,000.00 balance of the total purchase price of the petitioner's properties within the stipulated period ending December 31, 1991.
3. There was no slight or casual breach on the part of the respondent because she (respondent) deliberately failed to comply with her contractual obligations with the petitioner by violating the terms or manner of payment of the ?1,200,000.00 balance and unjustly enriched herself at the expense of the petitioner by collecting all rental payments for her personal benefit and enjoyment.
8. That the title and ownership of the subject real properties shall remain with the First Party until the full payment of the Second Party of the balance of the purchase price and liquidation of the mortgage obligation of P2,000,000.00. Pending payment of the balance of the purchase price and liquidation of the mortgage obligation that was assumed by the Second Party, the Second Party shall not sell, transfer and convey and otherwise encumber the subject real properties without the written consent of the First and Third Party.
9. That upon full payment by the Second Party of the full balance of the purchase price and the assumed mortgage obligation herein mentioned the Third Party shall issue the corresponding Deed of Cancellation of Mortgage and the First Party shall execute the corresponding Deed of Absolute Sale in favor of the Second Party.[7]
The Court holds that the contract entered into by the Spouses Nabus and respondents was a contract to sell, not a contract of sale.
A contract of sale is defined in Article 1458 of the Civil Code, thus:
Art. 1458. By the contract of sale, one of the contracting parties obligates himself to transfer the ownership of and to deliver a determinate thing, and the other to pay therefor a price certain in money or its equivalent.
xxx
Sale, by its very nature, is a consensual contract because it is perfected by mere consent. The essential elements of a contract of sale are the following:a) Consent or meeting of the minds, that is, consent to transfer ownership in exchange for the price;
b) Determinate subject matter; and
c) Price certain in money or its equivalent.
Under this definition, a Contract to Sell may not be considered as a Contract of Sale because the first essential element is lacking. In a contract to sell, the prospective seller explicitly reserves the transfer of title to the prospective buyer, meaning, the prospective seller does not as yet agree or consent to transfer ownership of the property subject of the contract to sell until the happening of an event, which for present purposes we shall take as the full payment of the purchase price. What the seller agrees or obliges himself to do is to fulfill his promise to sell the subject property when the entire amount of the purchase price is delivered to him. In other words, the full payment of the purchase price partakes of a suspensive condition, the non-fulfillment of which prevents the obligation to sell from arising and, thus, ownership is retained by the prospective seller without further remedies by the prospective buyer.xxx xxx xxx
Stated positively, upon the fulfillment of the suspensive condition which is the full payment of the purchase price, the prospective seller's obligation to sell the subject property by entering into a contract of sale with the prospective buyer becomes demandable as provided in Article 1479 of the Civil Code which states:
Art. 1479. A promise to buy and sell a determinate thing for a price certain is reciprocally demandable.
An accepted unilateral promise to buy or to sell a determinate thing for a price certain is binding upon the promissor if the promise is supported by a consideration distinct from the price.
A contract to sell may thus be defined as a bilateral contract whereby the prospective seller, while expressly reserving the ownership of the subject property despite delivery thereof to the prospective buyer, binds himself to sell the said property exclusively to the prospective buyer upon fulfillment of the condition agreed upon, that is, full payment of the purchase price.
A contract to sell as defined hereinabove, may not even be considered as a conditional contract of sale where the seller may likewise reserve title to the property subject of the sale until the fulfillment of a suspensive condition, because in a conditional contract of sale, the first element of consent is present, although it is conditioned upon the happening of a contingent event which may or may not occur. If the suspensive condition is not fulfilled, the perfection of the contract of sale is completely abated. However, if the suspensive condition is fulfilled, the contract of sale is thereby perfected, such that if there had already been previous delivery of the property subject of the sale to the buyer, ownership thereto automatically transfers to the buyer by operation of law without any further act having to be performed by the seller.
In a contract to sell, upon the fulfillment of the suspensive condition which is the full payment of the purchase price, ownership will not automatically transfer to the buyer although the property may have been previously delivered to him. The prospective seller still has to convey title to the prospective buyer by entering into a contract of absolute sale.
Further, Chua v. Court of Appeals, cited this distinction between a contract of sale and a contract to sell:In a contract of sale, the title to the property passes to the vendee upon the delivery of the thing sold; in a contract to sell, ownership is, by agreement, reserved in the vendor and is not to pass to the vendee until full payment of the purchase price. Otherwise stated, in a contract of sale, the vendor loses ownership over the property and cannot recover it until and unless the contract is resolved or rescinded; whereas, in a contract to sell, title is retained by the vendor until full payment of the price. In the latter contract, payment of the price is a positive suspensive condition, failure of which is not a breach but an event that prevents the obligation of the vendor to convey title from becoming effective.
It is not the title of the contract, but its express terms or stipulations that determine the kind of contract entered into by the parties. In this case, the contract entitled "Deed of Conditional Sale" is actually a contract to sell. The contract stipulated that "as soon as the full consideration of the sale has been paid by the vendee, the corresponding transfer documents shall be executed by the vendor to the vendee for the portion sold." Where the vendor promises to execute a deed of absolute sale upon the completion by the vendee of the payment of the price, the contract is only a contract to sell." The aforecited stipulation shows that the vendors reserved title to the subject property until full payment of the purchase price.xxx
Unfortunately for the Spouses Pacson, since the Deed of Conditional Sale executed in their favor was merely a contract to sell, the obligation of the seller to sell becomes demandable only upon the happening of the suspensive condition. The full payment of the purchase price is the positive suspensive condition, the failure of which is not a breach of contract, but simply an event that prevented the obligation of the vendor to convey title from acquiring binding force. Thus, for its non-fulfilment, there is no contract to speak of, the obligor having failed to perform the suspensive condition which enforces a juridical relation. With this circumstance, there can be no rescission or fulfillment of an obligation that is still non-existent, the suspensive condition not having occurred as yet. Emphasis should be made that the breach contemplated in Article 1191 of the New Civil Code is the obligor's failure to comply with an obligation already extant, not a failure of a condition to render binding that obligation. [Emphases and underscoring supplied]
Regarding the right to cancel the contract for non-payment of an installment, there is need to initially determine if what the parties had was a contract of sale or a contract to sell. In a contract of sale, the title to the property passes to the buyer upon the delivery of the thing sold. In a contract to sell, on the other hand, the ownership is, by agreement, retained by the seller and is not to pass to the vendee until full payment of the purchase price. In the contract of sale, the buyer's non-payment of the price is a negative resolutory condition; in the contract to sell, the buyer's full payment of the price is a positive suspensive condition to the coming into effect of the agreement. In the first case, the seller has lost and cannot recover the ownership of the property unless he takes action to set aside the contract of sale. In the second case, the title simply remains in the seller if the buyer does not comply with the condition precedent of making payment at the time specified in the contract. Here, it is quite evident that the contract involved was one of a contract to sell since the Atienzas, as sellers, were to retain title of ownership to the land until respondent Espidol, the buyer, has paid the agreed price. Indeed, there seems no question that the parties understood this to be the case.
Admittedly, Espidol was unable to pay the second installment of P1,750,000.00 that fell due in December 2002. That payment, said both the RTC and the CA, was a positive suspensive condition failure of which was not regarded a breach in the sense that there can be no rescission of an obligation (to turn over title) that did not yet exist since the suspensive condition had not taken place. x x x. [Emphases and underscoring supplied]
2. That the purchase price of P4,200,000.00 shall be paid as follows:
a) P278,078.13 received in cash by the First Party but directly paid to the Third Party as partial payment of the mortgage obligation of the First Party in order to reduce the amount to P2,000,000.00 only as of November 15, 1990;
b) P721,921.87 received in cash by the First Party as additional payment of the Second Party;
c) P1,200,000.00 to be paid in installments as follows:Note: All the installments shall not bear any interest.
- P200,000.00 payable on or before January 31, 1991;
- P200,000.00 payable on or before June 30, 1991;
- P800,000.00 payable on or before December 31, 1991;
d) P2,000,000.00 outstanding balance of the mortgage obligation as of November 15, 1990 which is hereby assumed by the Second Party.x x x
3. That the Third Party hereby acknowledges receipts from the Second Party P278,078.13 as partial payment of the loan obligation of First Party in order to reduce the account to only P2,000,000.00 as of November 15, 1990 to be assumed by the Second Party effective November 15, 1990.[12]
Respondents are not entitled to moral damages because contracts are not referred to in Article 2219 of the Civil Code, which enumerates the cases when moral damages may be recovered. Article 2220 of the Civil Code allows the recovery of moral damages in breaches of contract where the defendant acted fraudulently or in bad faith. However, this case involves a contract to sell, wherein full payment of the purchase price is a positive suspensive condition, the non-fulfillment of which is not a breach of contract, but merely an event that prevents the seller from conveying title to the purchaser.Since there is no breach of contract in this case, respondents are not entitled to moral damages.
In the absence of moral, temperate, liquidated or compensatory damages, exemplary damages cannot be granted for they are allowed only in addition to any of the four kinds of damages mentioned.