FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 14630. March 16, 1920. ]
OCEJO, PEREZ & CO., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ISABEL FLORES, and JOAQUIN BAS, defendants-appellants, and ISABEL FLORES, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JOAQUIN BAS, Defendant-Appellant.
Ramon Diokno for appellant Bas.
Modesto Reyes and Eliseo Ymson for appellee-appellant Flores.
Eduardo Guitierrez Repide and Felix Socias for Appellee.
SYLLABUS
1. CONTRACTS; CONSIDERATION NULLITY. — A contract of purchase and sale is null and void and produces no effect whatsoever where it appears that same is without cause or consideration which should have been the motive thereof, or the purchase price which appears thereon as paid but which in fact has never been paid by the purchaser to vendor. (Art. 1275, Civil Code.)
2. DEBTOR AND CREDITOR; LOAN; POSSESSION OF PROPERTY. — The creditor of a certain sum of money given as a loan has no right to be placed in the possession of the debtor’s property. But, it having been ordered by the justice of the peace that the creditor be placed in the possession of said property although the latter has no right to withhold it and the owner thereof not having claimed its return, it is not proper to order the creditor to return said property without any hearing, especially when it appears that the money loaned to the owner of the property thus withheld has not yet been paid.
2. DEBTOR AND CREDITOR; LOAN; POSSESSION OF PROPERTY. — The creditor of a certain sum of money given as a loan has no right to be placed in the possession of the debtor’s property. But, it having been ordered by the justice of the peace that the creditor be placed in the possession of said property although the latter has no right to withhold it and the owner thereof not having claimed its return, it is not proper to order the creditor to return said property without any hearing, especially when it appears that the money loaned to the owner of the property thus withheld has not yet been paid.
D E C I S I O N
TORRES, J.:
On the 27th day of May, 1913, Isabel Flores Viuda de Juarez, and the mercantile firm Ocejo, Perez & Co., represented by J. R. Pomar, executed before Florencio Gonzalez Diez, a notary public of the City of Manila, a document wherein it appears that Isabel Flores, in consideration of the sum of P15,000 which she has received from Ocejo, Perez & Co., cedes, sells, and transfers to the said firm six parcels of land situated in the Province of Tayabas, with the alcohol factory erected on one of said parcels, all of which belong exclusively to her. (Exhibit A, page 112; and Ocejo, Perez & Co’s complaint with I. Flores’ answer, wherein both parties admit having executed said document Exhibit A.)
On the same date, May 27, 1913, the same parties executed another document wherein it is recited that the mercantile firm above named leased to Isabel Flores the same realty mentioned in the document of sale already mentioned, giving her the right to repurchase said property within the period of repurchase. (Exhibit B, rec., p. 137, and the parties’ pleadings admitting the execution of this document.)
On the 23d day of July, 1913, the same Isabel Flores and the above mentioned firm of Ocejo, Perez & Co., executed a private document wherein the said Isabel Flores acknowledges having received from Ocejo, Perez & Co., the documents accrediting her right of ownership over the four parcels of land which she possesses in the municipality of Lucena, of the two parcels in Atimonan, and another in Pagbilao, for the purpose of securing Torrens titles for said lands and afterwards mortgaging them in favor of Ocejo, Perez & Co., to secure the payment of the sum of P15,000, which the said firm "has for the present delivered to her as a loan secured by the three tracts of coconut-land situated in Lucena, first mentioned." (Exhibit 2, p. 119 of the record of the testimony of Jose R. Pomar, admitting having signed this Exhibit 2 as manager of Ocejo, Perez & Co., rec., pp. 4-5.)
On the 18th day of September, 1914, Isabel Flores petitioned the Court of First Instance of Tayabas for the registration of three parcels of land belonging to her and situated in the municipalities of Pagbilao, Atimonan and Lucena, Tayabas Province. (Exhibit 2-Bas, rec., p. 234, and the testimonies of the parties and their attorneys, rec., pp. 10, 38 and 108, wherein this fact is taken for granted.)
On the 7th day of May, 1915, Isabel Flores executed before Isidro Santiago, a notary public of this city, a document in favor of Joaquin Bas whereby she sells to the said Joaquin Bas for the sum of P20,000 four parcels of land situated in Pagbilao, one parcel situated in Atimonan, and eight parcels situated in Lucena together with a house of strong materials and a distillery and several thousand of coconuts bearing fruits, exclusively belonging to her, free from any lien and encumbrances the said Isabel Flores recognizing in said document having received from the said Joaquin Bas the said sum of P20,000 to her entire satisfaction. (Exhibit 3-Bas, rec., p. 238, which is the Exhibit C on page 22 of bill of exhibit of Isabel Flores; and the parties’ pleadings on pp. 8, 33-34, 55 and 58 of same bill o
On the same date, May 27, 1913, the same parties executed another document wherein it is recited that the mercantile firm above named leased to Isabel Flores the same realty mentioned in the document of sale already mentioned, giving her the right to repurchase said property within the period of repurchase. (Exhibit B, rec., p. 137, and the parties’ pleadings admitting the execution of this document.)
On the 23d day of July, 1913, the same Isabel Flores and the above mentioned firm of Ocejo, Perez & Co., executed a private document wherein the said Isabel Flores acknowledges having received from Ocejo, Perez & Co., the documents accrediting her right of ownership over the four parcels of land which she possesses in the municipality of Lucena, of the two parcels in Atimonan, and another in Pagbilao, for the purpose of securing Torrens titles for said lands and afterwards mortgaging them in favor of Ocejo, Perez & Co., to secure the payment of the sum of P15,000, which the said firm "has for the present delivered to her as a loan secured by the three tracts of coconut-land situated in Lucena, first mentioned." (Exhibit 2, p. 119 of the record of the testimony of Jose R. Pomar, admitting having signed this Exhibit 2 as manager of Ocejo, Perez & Co., rec., pp. 4-5.)
On the 18th day of September, 1914, Isabel Flores petitioned the Court of First Instance of Tayabas for the registration of three parcels of land belonging to her and situated in the municipalities of Pagbilao, Atimonan and Lucena, Tayabas Province. (Exhibit 2-Bas, rec., p. 234, and the testimonies of the parties and their attorneys, rec., pp. 10, 38 and 108, wherein this fact is taken for granted.)
On the 7th day of May, 1915, Isabel Flores executed before Isidro Santiago, a notary public of this city, a document in favor of Joaquin Bas whereby she sells to the said Joaquin Bas for the sum of P20,000 four parcels of land situated in Pagbilao, one parcel situated in Atimonan, and eight parcels situated in Lucena together with a house of strong materials and a distillery and several thousand of coconuts bearing fruits, exclusively belonging to her, free from any lien and encumbrances the said Isabel Flores recognizing in said document having received from the said Joaquin Bas the said sum of P20,000 to her entire satisfaction. (Exhibit 3-Bas, rec., p. 238, which is the Exhibit C on page 22 of bill of exhibit of Isabel Flores; and the parties’ pleadings on pp. 8, 33-34, 55 and 58 of same bill o
