[ G.R. No. 44974. November 23, 1938 ] 66 Phil. 552
[ G.R. No. 44974. November 23, 1938 ]
W. S. PRICE, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. CEFERINO YBAÑES ET AL., DEFENDANTS. ALEIDA SAAVEDRA, APPELLANT. D E C I S I O N
CONCEPCION, J.:
The object of this suit is the foreclosure of a mortgage. The facts may be stated as follows:
Defendants Ceferino Ybañes and Aleida Saavedra are husband and wife, with children. They lived separately. Aleida Saavedra brought an action in the Court of First Instance of Cebu against her husband for alimony for herself and their children. Judgment having been rendered in her favor on her complaint, Aleida Saavedra, nevertheless, appealed from the decision of the court by reason of the inadequacy of the alimony granted. While the appeal was pending, her husband sold to defendant Rafael Martinez a big parcel of land belonging to the marriage, situated in the barrio of Tibayla, municipality of San Isidro, Leyte, with other personal and real property, for the sum of P45,000, of which P30,000 was paid immediately by the vendee, who executed a mortgage on the land so sold for the balance of P15,000 in favor of the vendor Ceferino Ybañes. Some days later, Rafael Martinez obtained a loan in the amount of P15,000 from plaintiff W. S. Price with which he paid Ceferino Ybañes the balance of the price payment of which was deferred. The land was mortgaged to the plaintiff for the said sum of P15,000. On learning of the sale made in favor of Rafael Martinez by Ceferino Ybañes and of the mortgage of the land executed by the former to the herein plaintiff for the sum of P15,000, Aleida Saavedra and her children filed a complaint against the vendor Ceferino Ybañes, the vendee Rafael Martinez and the mortgage creditor, the herein plaintiff W. S. Price, for the annulment of the aforesaid sale and mortgage as being illegal and fraudulent. The court rendered judgment against defendants, who appealed to this court which, in deciding the appeal, held in the dispositive part of its decision (G. R. No. 37854, November 17, 1933, 58 Phil., 767), the following:
“Wherefore, the judgment appealed from is hereby modified to the effect that the deed of sale, Exhibit C, executed by Ceferino Ibañes in favor of Rafael Martinez is declared rescinded and without force and effect, and the register of deeds of Leyte is hereby ordered to cancel transfer certificate of title No. 294 issued in favor of the said Martinez, and to issue, in lieu thereof, another transfer certificate of title in favor of Ceferino Ibañes and his wife, Aleida Saavedra, with a notation thereon of (1) the mortgage constituted in favor of W. S. Price to secure the payment of the sum of P15,000 and (2) the judgment rendered by this court in case G. R. No. 33795 (56 Phil., 33), civil case No. 7957 of the Court of First Instance of Cebu; without prejudice to any right of action which Rafael Martinez may have against Ceferino Ibañes in accordance with the law. As thus modified, the judgment appealed from is hereby affirmed in all other respects, with the costs of both instances against Ceferino Ibañes and Rafael Martinez.”
By virtue of the foregoing decision, the register of deeds of the Province of Leyte cancelled transfer certificate of title No. 294 issued in favor of Rafael Martinez, and in its stead, issued another on December 27, 1933 bearing No. 395 in the name of the spouses Ceferino Ybañes and Aleida Saavedra, noting in the new transfer certificate of title as preferred encumbrance the mortgage of P15,000 in favor of plaintiff and, thereafter the judgment by this court in favor of Aleida Saavedra in her capacity as wife and creditor of her husband Ceferino Ybañes for alimony for herself and their children. On February 23, 1935 by virtue of the writ of execution issued in the action for alimony against Ceferino Ybañes, all the latter’s right, title and interest which said Ceferino Ybañes might have in the land in question was sold at public auction, and his wife Aleida Saavedra bought the same, becoming thereby the sole owner of the land.
The obligation having become due, plaintiff, herein appellee, foreclosed his mortgage credit of P15,000 against the spouses Ceferino Ybañes and Aleida Saavedra and against Rafael Martinez. Judgment was rendered in favor of plaintiff and against defendants for the sum of P15,000 with six per cent legal interest from January 16, 1934, the date of the filing of the complaint, until complete payment which must be made within the period of three months from the date of the judgment, the mortgaged land to be sold to satisfy the judgment in case of nonpayment. From said judgment, Aleida Saavedra appealed.
Ceferino Ybañes and Rafael Martinez not having appealed, as to them the judgment has become final and executory. In her brief Aleida Saavedra contends: First, that the court erred in sentencing all the defendants to pay the sum of P15,000 secured by the mortgaged land in question; and second, that the court likewise erred in ordering payment of legal interest of six per cent per annum on said principal sum from the filing of the complaint.
As to the first error, we believe that the contention of the appellant should be sustained for the reason that she has not received a single centavo of the aforesaid sum of P15,000. Defendant Rafael Martinez alone contracted the debt with plaintiff and should be the only one responsible for its payment.
It is argued that Rafael Martinez delivered the entire sum of P15,000 to defendant Ceferino Ybañes. If this could alter the obligation of Rafael Martinez, then Ceferino Ybañes is the one who should pay the debt, not the appellant, who precisely obtained judgment declaring null and void the sale of the land made by her husband in favor of Rafael Martinez. Appellant Aleida Saavedra would be constrained to pay plaintiff the said sum of P15,000 only in case neither Rafael Martinez nor Ceferino Ybañes should have paid it, and she would do so to keep her ownership over the mortgaged land which now belongs to her. However, the payment which she might make would be an act of her own free will and not in compliance with an obligation as the judgment appealed from attempts to impose on her.
Concerning the payment of six per cent legal interest, we believe that the contention of the appellant is also correct and according to law. The obligation secured by the mortgage in favor of plaintiff is solely and exclusively the payment of the sum of P15,000. No interest whatsoever was stipulated when the obligation was executed. The mortgage which this court allowed to remain as a charge on the land, respecting thereby the right of the plaintiff creditor, cannot be extended further than the obligation secured by said encumbrance. It is true that according to the provisions of section 256 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the court shall, upon trial in an action for foreclosure of mortgage, ascertain the amount of the debt including interest and costs; but these legal provisions of course presuppose a case where the parties had stipulated as to the interest.
In the brief filed by defendant Rafael Martinez, he contends that “in accordance with the facts of this case, the juridical relation resulting from the annulment of the sale executed by Ybañes, as vendor, in favor of Martinez, as vendee, is, with respect to the mortgage executed by the latter in favor of Price, more of that of principal and agent than of surety and principal.” We believe that this contention is not supported by the facts nor by the law.
The judgment appealed from is modified and Rafael Martinez and Ceferino Ybañes are ordered to pay the sum of P15,000 to plaintiff within the period of ninety days to be counted from the date this decision becomes final, without pronouncements to costs. So ordered.
Avanceña, C. J., Villa-Real, Imperial, and Laurel, JJ., concur.