EN BANC
[G.R. No. L-4037. November 29, 1951. ]
TRINIDAD FLORENDO, Petitioner-Appellee, v. RUFINA ORGANO, Respondent-Appellant.
Juan Amor and Santiago S. Sunga, for Appellant.
B. Martinez, for Appellee.
SYLLABUS
1. HUSBAND AND WIFE; ALIMONY; JUDGMENT THEREFOR DOES NOT PRESCRIBE, ALTHOUGH INSTALLMENTS THEREON DO. — A judgment for support does not prescribe or become dormant. But installments not recovered within ten years from the time they become doe do prescribe.
2. ID.; ID.; ID. — Installments do not fall due at the same time, with the result that while some installments may prescribe, there always remain others which do not. As installments become payable one at a time, so they prescribe in the same progression, successively as they are allowed to reach the ten-year limitation period without any action being taken to collect them. And, "when prescription is interrupted by a judicial demand, the full time for the prescription must be reckoned from the cessation of the interruption" (Spring v. Barr. 120 So. 256; La. App. 732; 54 C.J.S. 293).
3. ID.; ID.; ID.; EXECUTION OF JUDGMENT FOR ALIMONY. — Under ordinary circumstances, a simple motion for execution would be the proper step to secure the payment of support and maintenance in arrears. However, notwithstanding the availability of a motion to achieve the same end, there is no valid reason why a counterclaim in another separate action between the same parties may not be set up if for no other reason than to bring in, in one proceeding, all the disputes between the said parties.
2. ID.; ID.; ID. — Installments do not fall due at the same time, with the result that while some installments may prescribe, there always remain others which do not. As installments become payable one at a time, so they prescribe in the same progression, successively as they are allowed to reach the ten-year limitation period without any action being taken to collect them. And, "when prescription is interrupted by a judicial demand, the full time for the prescription must be reckoned from the cessation of the interruption" (Spring v. Barr. 120 So. 256; La. App. 732; 54 C.J.S. 293).
3. ID.; ID.; ID.; EXECUTION OF JUDGMENT FOR ALIMONY. — Under ordinary circumstances, a simple motion for execution would be the proper step to secure the payment of support and maintenance in arrears. However, notwithstanding the availability of a motion to achieve the same end, there is no valid reason why a counterclaim in another separate action between the same parties may not be set up if for no other reason than to bring in, in one proceeding, all the disputes between the said parties.
D E C I S I O N
TUASON, J.:
This is an appeal from the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur "absolving" the plaintiff from a counterclaim. The main action, which was for divorce, had been dismissed for failure of the plaintiff to prosecute.
Briefly, the plaintiff and the defendant are man and wife and have been living apart since 1909. In an action for maintenance and support brought in civil case No. 2853 of the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur, this Court on appeal (G. R. No. 41438) handed down on March 4, 1935, a decision which closed with this judgment:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph
"En su virtud, se revoca la sentencia apelada y se condena al demandado-apelado a pagar a la demandante-apelante las pensiones alimenticias devengadas y no pagadas, fijadas en la sentencia de 8 de septiembre de 1909, desde el 1.
Briefly, the plaintiff and the defendant are man and wife and have been living apart since 1909. In an action for maintenance and support brought in civil case No. 2853 of the Court of First Instance of Ilocos Sur, this Court on appeal (G. R. No. 41438) handed down on March 4, 1935, a decision which closed with this judgment:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph
"En su virtud, se revoca la sentencia apelada y se condena al demandado-apelado a pagar a la demandante-apelante las pensiones alimenticias devengadas y no pagadas, fijadas en la sentencia de 8 de septiembre de 1909, desde el 1.
