NAVARRO, JOMERY ANN M.

MEMORANDUM

FACTS OF THE CASE:

 
Spouses Pedro and Maria have 3 children, A, B and C.  Pedro and Maria residing at
Batangas City, owns five parcels of land located at different locations and one of their
parcel of land is located at Manila with a building leased by Bong with a monthly rental
of Fifty Thousand Pesos (50,000.00) with lease term until December 2022.

Pedro and Maria are also creditors of Bong, a resident of Bacoor City, who borrowed
Php 320,000.00 with monthly interest of 5% payable within one year or until January 15,
2020 (with notarized promissory note). Pedro and Maria already sent Bong a demand
letter to pay but to no avail, Bong still did not pay.  

Pedro and Maria are also creditors of Lani (wife of Bong and a resident of Bacoor City)
who borrowed Php 200,000.00 with monthly interest of 5% payable on December 31,
2019.  Lani failed to pay despite repeated demands sent by Pedro and Maria.

CAUSE/S OF ACTION:

Pedro and Maria as the owner of the property, has the right to eject a tenant if non
payment of rent for period of three months . Bong has an obligation to pay the monthly
rentals but failed to do so, hence he violated the rights of the land owner and brought
injury and damages to the spouses.

Bong and Lani owed money to the spouses Pedro and Maria according to Article 1953
of the Civil Code of the Philippines (CCP), provides that a person who receives a loan of
money or any other fungible thing acquires the ownership thereof and is bound to pay to
the creditor an equal amount of the same kind and quality and legal delay is the failure
to perform an obligation on time, which failure constitutes a breach of obligation , hence
in this case there’s a breach of the obligation when the amount due and demandable
was not paid on the agreed day.

Therefore, Pedro and Maria has three causes of action based on the factual incident
namely the following:

1. The unpaid four months rental of Bong to the leased building owned by the
spouses amounting to 50,000.00 pesos per month;
 2. The unpaid borrowed money of Bong amounting to Three Hundred Twenty
Pesos (Php 320,000.00) payable within one year with five percent (5%) monthly
interest;
3. And lastly, the unpaid borrowed money of Lani amounting to Two Hundred
Thousand Pesos with five (5%) monthly interest.

LEGAL REMEDY/IES:

A debtor has the obligation to return to the amount that he borrowed on the date
and time that he and the creditor have agreed upon.

For the borrowed sum of money of Spouses Bong and Lani to the
Spouses Pedro and Maria, the spouses Pedro may file for a complaint in the
Regional Trial Court of Batangas City for the Collection of Sum of Money with
Damages

In collections of sum of money, debts are not extinguished by simply paying the
principal obligation when there is a stipulation of interest. The debtor and creditor are
free to stipulate the interest on their agreement provided it is done freely with no
presence of fraud or intimidation. The agreement shall be the law to both parties and
shall be controlling between them so long as it is not unconscionable or shocking to the
conscience of man.

A creditor may only file an action for the collection of sum of money before the
court when the debt is already due and demandable and there is failure of payment on
the part of the debtor. But before resorting to filing a case, a demand letter is important.
Demand letters will ensure that the debtor is reminded of his obligation and that he shall
be given the chance to pay his debt without resorting to a full blown trial. Demand
Letters also serve as compelling evidence that the creditor formally demanded payment
of the debt due.

In this case a demand letter was executed and sent to Bong to remind him of his
obligation and he has given the chance to pay but failed to do so.

A lessee is obliged to pay the price of the lease according to the terms stipulated;

For the unpaid monthly rentals of Bong to the leased property, the Spouses may
file a compliant for unlawful detainer at the Metropolitan Trial Court in Manila where the
building was situated.

Unlawful detainer is a summary action for the recovery of possession of real

property. In unlawful detainer, the possession of the defendant was legal and was
permitted on account of a contract between the lessor and the lessee, however it will
become illegal when the plaintiff demands the defendant to vacate the property because
of expiration or termination of the right to possess, Bong’s possession to the property as
a lessee becomes illegal when he failed to pay the monthly rent for four (4) months and
still refused despite of demand from Pedro and Maria.

CONCLUSION:

Based on the foregoing facts, the Bong and Lani are liable for breach of contract
because they did not pay the monthly rentals as well as the money they borrowed to the
spouses Pedro and Maria, hence, the aggrieved party may opted to file a complaint for
payment of sum of money and file a complaint for unlawful detainer.