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PHILIPPINE SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

FIRST DIVISION

[G.R. No. 29155. November 5, 1928. ]

JOSEFINA RUBIO DE LARENA, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HERMENEGILDO VILLANUEVA, Defendant-Appellee.

Abad Santos, Camus & Delgado and Jose Montaño for Appellant.

Del Rosario & Del Rosario for Appellee.

SYLLABUS


1. CONTRACT OF LEASE; ACTION FOR RECOVERY OF RENT; INSTALLMENTS OF RENT. — When a contract of lease provides for the payment of the rent in separate installments, each installment may be considered an independent cause of action, but in an action upon such a lease for the recovery of rent, the installments due at the time the action was brought must be included in the complaint, and failure to do so constitutes a bar to a subsequent action for such overdue rent.

2. SPLITTING OF CAUSE OF ACTION. — The principle is well established that a party will not be permitted to split a cause of action and make it the basis of several suits, but that rule applies only to cases where the cause is in existence at the time the action is brought.

3. RESOLUTION OF CONTRACT OF LEASE; RESCISSION; DISTINCTION UNIMPORTANT IN THIS CASE. — In an action brought under article 1124 of the Civil Code for terminating a lease, the subject matter may, properly speaking, be designated as a resolution of the contract and not a rescission, but that is a distinction without a difference, and in either case a judicial declaration is necessary for the cancellation of the contract in the absence of a special agreement.


D E C I S I O N


OSTRAND, J.:


The case at bar is a sequel to case G. R. No. 21706, Josefina Rubio de Larena v. Hermenegildo Villanueva, decided on March 26, 1924. 1 In that case we affirmed a decision of the Court of First Instance ordering the rescission of a lease of the Tacgajan Sugar Plantation and the payment by the defendant-lessee of the unpaid balance of the rent for the agricultural year 1920-1922 in the sum of P5,949.28 with interest from August 26, 1922, and for P8,000 in rent for the agricultural year 1921-1923. The decision also provided that the possession of the leased land be delivered to the plaintiff.

Shortly after the record was returned to the court below, a writ of execution was issued, but before levy was made the parties came to an agreement, under which the money judgment was to be satisfied by the payment of P10,500 in cash and the transfer to the plaintiff of a dwelling house situated in the municipality of Bais. The agreement was carried out in accordance with its terms, and on September 30, 1924, the following document was executed by the plaintiff:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"Habiendo llegado a un convenio entre la que subscribe, ejecutante, en la causa civil No. 67 decidida por la Corte Suprema, y el ejecutado, Don Hermenegildo Villanueva, por la presente declaro haber recibido del Sherif Provincial de Negros Oriental, y a mi entera satisfaccion la suma de diez mil quinientos pesos (P10,500), mas una casa residencial con su solar, situada en la plaza del Municipio de Bais, Provincial de Negros Oriental, cuyas descripciones aparecen en un documento aparte, por el importe de la ejecucion expedida por el Juzgado de Negros Oriental el 14 de mayo de 1924, en virtud de una decision de la Corte Suprema. Con este queda definitivamente cumplimentada esta ejecucion.

"Y para que asi conste, firmo la presente en el Municipio de Bais, Provincia de Negros Oriental, I. F., ante el Sheriff Provincial de esta Provincia de Negros Oriental y el Notario P
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