Lagrimas A. Boy v.

Court of Appeals
Facts:

Lagrimas borrowed P15,000 from the spouses Ramos for her brothers placement fee to go
abroad. She later on executed a Deed of Absolute Sale with the spouses Ramos, with an agreed
price of P31,000.
It was agreed upon that Lagrimas P15,000 would be deducted from the price, leaving a balance
of P16,000 for the spouses to pay.
Lagrimas requested for time to vacate the premises, to which the spouses Ramos agreed to
since they were not in immediate need of the premises.
Lagrimas went to Erlinda Ramos, asking that they execute a Kasunduan stating that the Ramoses
still owe P16,000, but deducting interest therefrom in favor of the spouses to leave a remaining
balance of P8,500. The Kasunduan was notarized, but Erlinda changed her mind.
Lagrimas promised the notary public that she would be scrapping the Kasunduan, but later
invoked the same when the spouses Ramos demanded her to vacate the premises.

Issue:

Does the Kasunduan supersede the Deed of Sale which has not been consummated?

Ruling:

NO. A perusal of the Deed of Sale reveals that the contract was absolute; there was no
indication that there was any balance left for Lagrimas to pay.
It was established that Lagrimas sold the property to the spouses Ramos for P31,000 without
any provision that title would be reserved to Lagrimas until full payment of the purchase price.
By the contract of sale, Lagrimas obligated herself to transfer the ownership of, and to deliver,
the property to the spouses Ramos after they paid the price.
Article 1477 of the Civil Code provides that ownership of the thing sold shall be transferred to
the vendee upon the actual or constructive delivery thereof.
Article 1498 provides that when the sale is made through a public instrument (as was done in
this case), the execution thereof shall be equivalent to the delivery of the thing which is the
object of the contract, if from the deed the contrary does not appear or cannot clearly be
inferred.
The Deed of Absolute Sale here does not contain any stipulation against constructive delivery of
the property, thus supporting the spouses Ramos right of material possession thereto.