ALBANO vs.

TARAGIS

Bachelor of Science in Accountancy 1-A

2024
 I. FACTS

On April 01, 2024, TARAGIS posted on their Facebook page the

following: (1) Kunin ang logo ng TARAGIS; (2) Ipa Tattoo sa Noo; (3)
Kung sino man ang unang makakapag send sa amin siya ang mananalo ng
Php100,000.00.

RAMIL ALBANO, who was browsing his facebook, saw the post of
Taragis, thus he immediately went to a tattoo artist to have the logo of
Taragis tattooed on his forehead. After which, he sent a picture with a tattoo
of the logo of TARAGIS on his forehead to the TARAGIS Facebook page.

II. ISSUE

1. Whether or not the contract is perfected

III. LEGAL BASES

There is no perfected contract between Albano and Taragis.

A contract is defined in Article 1305 as the meeting of minds

between two contracting parties. It takes place when the requisites
provided in Article 1318 are present, such that there is: (1) consent of
the contracting parties; (2) object certain, which is the subject matter
of the contract; and (3) cause of the obligation, which is established.

In accordance with Article 1319, consent, being one of the

essential requisites of a contract, is expressed when the offer of one of
the parties is accepted by the other, wherein the offer must be certain
and acceptance absolute. In the case Albano v. Taragis, the offer is not
certain but rather a mere joke. Although there is instruction on the said
post, the offer is still not seriously intended because when a viewer
clicks the photo, a phrase "April Fools" is present at the bottom of the
photo. There is no valid offer since the offer was made in jest.

Moreover, Article 1331 provides that a substantial mistake of

fact may vitiate consent. In this case, there is a mistake regarding the
conditions that have principally moved Albano to enter the contract.
Albano interpreted the offer as a serious one, when in fact the offer is
not valid because it was made jokingly for the sake of April Fools.

Although the terms are presented, there is no perfected contract

between Albano and Taragis since the offer is not complete, clear, and
was made in jest, which invalidates the consent of the contracting
parties.

In a similar case of Goddard v. Cumulus Broad., Inc. in

America, in 2000, a KORB disc jockey, Ben Stone, offered a

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six-figure payout if they tattooed the hard rock FM station’s call
letters and logo on their forehead as a silly radio stunt.

David Jonathan Winklerman and his stepson, Richard Goddard,

took themselves to a local tattoo parlor to have tattoos of ‘Quad City
Rocker’ and ‘93 Rock’ on their foreheads. They then went to the
station to claim their cash, but were only met with the truth that it was
just a joke. Winkelman and Goddard sued the station, claiming that
the station had sought to have listeners permanently marked to be
publicly ridiculed. The case was dismissed in 2003 because the court
found no evidence that such an offer had been made.

In addition, the case of Vicente Del Fierro Jr., for himself and
on behalf of Coalition 349 Inc. v. PepsiCo International (PPCI), with
the “Number Fever” promotional campaign in the Philippines in
1992, a valid contract was created because there is a definite offer
wherein it contains the requisites needed in a contract. The offer was
not made in jest because PepsiCo has a genuine intent to bestow the
reward as they coordinated it through the DTI.

Since the verdict was that there was negligence on the part of
PPCI with regards to the hordes of people claiming their prices, PPCI
were held liable for moral damages and ordered by the court to pay.
The Coalition 349 Inc. were believed to suffer emotional distress,
therefore they are entitled only to moral damages, not on the price of
the crown. PPCI does not have the intention to deceive the public. The
result of this case will be different to that of the Taragis case as the
contract was perfected in this scenario making PPCI liable for
damages unlike for Taragis wherein the creation of the contract is void
as its cause from the getgo was void.

Additionally, Atty. Anselmo Rodiel IV, a legal professional,

stated on social media that the incident should be handled by the law
on contracts because it involved an onerous donation. As stated before
in the articles, a contract between two parties cannot be finalized until
there is agreement and a meeting of the minds. There are two
situations that should be taken into consideration while discussing a
meeting of the minds: (1) a valid offer, and (2) a valid acceptance.
Since the offer was not made in a clear and comprehensive manner,
there isn't a finalized contract in this instance. Moreover, the
proposition was expressed in jest. Having stated that, the parties do
not have a perfected contract.

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IV. CONCLUSION

With the arguments presented, it is apparent that there was no

established binding contract between the parties, thus, no perfection of
contract was constituted. The uncertainty of the facebook post, which
was made in jest, made it clear that Taragis wouldn't be held liable due
to the invalidity of the offer. It was also evident that Albano's claims
may be vitiated as he mistakenly interpreted the offer as a serious one.
Furthermore, in the case of Goddard v. Cumulus Broad., Inc., out of
evidence of the contract’s intent dismissed the case. While the law
generally requires a serious intention to create legal relations for a
contract to be binding, it also recognizes that not all communications
or exchanges are intended to result in legal obligations. In this
instance, the lighthearted nature of the offer and the absence of any
indication of serious intent render it unlikely that a legally enforceable
contract was ever formed.

V. REFERENCES

Vicente Del Fierro Jr., for himself and on behalf of Coalition 349 Inc.
v. PepsiCo International:

https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/1/44023

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/897/5
9/1470317/

Goddard v. Cumulus Broad., Inc.:

https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1272
&context=nlj

Atty. Anselmo Rodiel IV:

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSFTr4J6M/