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RODOLFO G. CRUZ and ESPERANZA IBIAS, Petitioners, - ATTY. DELFIN GRUSPE, Respondent
RODOLFO G. CRUZ and ESPERANZA IBIAS, Petitioners, - ATTY. DELFIN GRUSPE, Respondent
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* SECOND DIVISION.
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BRION, J.:
Before the Court is the petition for review on certiorari1
filed under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court, assailing the
decision2 dated July 30, 2009 and the resolution3 dated
February 19, 2010 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R.
CV No. 86083. The CA rulings affirmed with modification
the decision dated September 27, 2004 of the Regional Trial
Court (RTC) of Bacoor, Cavite, Branch 19, in Civil Case No.
BCV-99-146 which granted respondent Atty. Delfin
Gruspe’s claim for payment of sum of money against
petitioners Rodolfo G. Cruz and Esperanza Ibias.4
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1 Rollo, pp. 3-8.
2 Penned by Associate Justice Amelita G. Tolentino, and concurred in
by Associate Justices Pampio A. Abarintos and Mario V. Lopez; id., at pp.
12-21.
3 Id., at pp. 23-24.
4 Id., at pp. 12-13.
417
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5 Records, p. 6. Paragraph 5 of the Joint Affidavit of Undertaking read:
5. If we cannot replace said car within the said period, we will be
liable to pay the cost of the car (Toyota Corolla 1.6 GLI 1993 Model) in the
total amount of Three Hundred Fifty Thousand Pesos (P350,000.00),
Philippine currency, with interest rate of 12% per month of any delayed
payment after November 15, 1999 until fully paid.
418
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6 The total claim for P350,000.00 less the P130,000.00 that Gruspe
received for selling his car; Rollo, p. 14.
7 Id., at p. 20. The dispositive portion of the CA decision dated July 30,
2009 read:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the appeal is DISMISSED. The
assailed decision dated September 27, 2004 of the Regional Trial Court of
Bacoor, Cavite, Branch 19, is AFFIRMED with the MODIFICATION that
the interest charged be changed from 15% to 12% per annum pursuant
to the Joint Affidavit of Undertaking of the defendants-appellants.
419
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8 In Tayco v. Heirs of Concepcion Tayco-Flores, G.R. No. 168692,
December 13, 2010, 637 SCRA 742, 751, the Court declared that “[t]he
denomination given by the parties in their contract is not conclusive of the
nature of the contents.”
9 Ayala Life Assurance, Inc. v. Ray Burton Dev’t. Corp., 515 Phil. 431,
437; 479 SCRA 462, 467-468 (2006).
420
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10 Supra note 2, at p. 19.
421
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11 Id., at p. 12.
12 Civil Code, Art. 1169. Those obliged to deliver or to do something
incur in delay from the time the obligee judicially or extrajudicially
demands from them the fulfillment of their obligation.
However, the demand by the creditor shall not be necessary in order
that delay may exist:
1) When the obligation or the law expressly so declare; or
2) When from the nature and the circumstances of the obligation it
appears that the designation of the time when the thing is to be delivered
or the service is to be rendered was a controlling motive for the
establishment of the contract; or
3) When demand would be useless, as when the obligor has rendered
it beyond his power to perform.
In reciprocal obligations, neither party incurs in delay if the other does
not comply or is not ready to comply in a proper manner with what is
incumbent upon him. From the moment one of the parties fulfills his
obligation, delay by the other begins.
422
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13 Social Security System v. Moonwalk Development and Housing
Corporation, G.R. No. 73345, April 7, 1993, 221 SCRA 119, 128.
14 Compare paragraph 5 of the Joint Affidavit of Undertaking (supra,
note 5) and the dispositive portion of the CA decision dated July 30, 2009
(supra, note 7).
15 See Asian Cathay Finance and Leasing Corporation v. Spouses
Gravador, G.R. No. 186550, July 5, 2010, 623 SCRA 517, 523.
** Designated as Acting Member in lieu of Associate Justice Jose P.
Perez per Special Order No. 1426 dated March 8, 2013.
423
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