Berke NK Otter

G.R. No.
L-41643
July 31, 1935
B.H. BERKENKOTTER, plaintiff-appellant,

vs.
CU UNJIENG E HIJOS, YEK TONG LIN FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE
COMPANY, MABALACAT SUGAR COMPANY and THE PROVINCE SHERIFF OF
PAMPANGA, defendants-appellees.
Briones and Martinez for appellant.
Araneta, Zaragoza and Araneta for appellees Cu Unjieng e Hijos.
No appearance for the other appellees.
VILLA-REAL, J.:
This is an appeal taken by the plaintiff, B.H. Berkenkotter, from the judgment of the Court of
First Instance of Manila, dismissing said plaintiff's complaint against Cu Unjiengs e Hijos et al.,
with costs.
In support of his appeal, the appellant assigns six alleged errors as committed by the trial court in
its decision in question which will be discussed in the course of this decision.
The first question to be decided in this appeal, which is raised in the first assignment of alleged
error, is whether or not the lower court erred in declaring that the additional machinery and
equipment, as improvement incorporated with the central are subject to the mortgage deed
executed in favor of the defendants Cu Unjieng e Hijos.
It is admitted by the parties that on April 26, 1926, the Mabalacat Sugar Co., Inc., owner of the
sugar central situated in Mabalacat, Pampanga, obtained from the defendants, Cu Unjieng e
Hijos, a loan secured by a first mortgage constituted on two parcels and land "with all its
buildings, improvements, sugar-cane mill, steel railway, telephone line, apparatus, utensils and
whatever forms part or is necessary complement of said sugar-cane mill, steel railway, telephone
line, now existing or that may in the future exist is said lots."
On October 5, 1926, shortly after said mortgage had been constituted, the Mabalacat Sugar Co.,
Inc., decided to increase the capacity of its sugar central by buying additional machinery and
equipment, so that instead of milling 150 tons daily, it could produce 250. The estimated cost of
said additional machinery and equipment was approximately P100,000. In order to carry out this
plan, B.A. Green, president of said corporation, proposed to the plaintiff, B.H. Berkenkotter, to
advance the necessary amount for the purchase of said machinery and equipment, promising to
reimburse him as soon as he could obtain an additional loan from the mortgagees, the herein
defendants Cu Unjieng e Hijos. Having agreed to said proposition made in a letter dated October
5, 1926 (Exhibit E), B.H. Berkenkotter, on October 9th of the same year, delivered the sum of
P1,710 to B.A. Green, president of the Mabalacat Sugar Co., Inc., the total amount supplied by
him to said B.A. Green having been P25,750. Furthermore, B.H. Berkenkotter had a credit of
P22,000 against said corporation for unpaid salary. With the loan of P25,750 and said credit of
P22,000, the Mabalacat Sugar Co., Inc., purchased the additional machinery and equipment now
in litigation.
On June 10, 1927, B.A. Green, president of the Mabalacat Sugar Co., Inc., applied to Cu Unjieng
e Hijos for an additional loan of P75,000 offering as security the additional machinery and
equipment acquired by said B.A. Green and installed in the sugar central after the execution of
the original mortgage deed, on April 27, 1927, together with whatever additional equipment
acquired with said loan. B.A. Green failed to obtain said loan.
Article 1877 of the Civil Code provides as follows.
ART. 1877. A mortgage includes all natural accessions, improvements, growing fruits,
and rents not collected when the obligation falls due, and the amount of any indemnities
paid or due the owner by the insurers of the mortgaged property or by virtue of the
exercise of the power of eminent domain, with the declarations, amplifications, and
limitations established by law, whether the estate continues in the possession of the
person who mortgaged it or whether it passes into the hands of a third person.
In the case of Bischoff vs. Pomar and Compaia General de Tabacos (12 Phil., 690), cited with
approval in the case of Cea vs. Villanueva (18 Phil., 538), this court laid shown the following
doctrine:
1. REALTY; MORTGAGE OF REAL ESTATE INCLUDES IMPROVEMENTS AND
FIXTURES. It is a rule, established by the Civil Code and also by the Mortgage Law,
with which the decisions of the courts of the United States are in accord, that in a
mortgage of real estate, the improvements on the same are included; therefore, all objects
permanently attached to a mortgaged building or land, although they may have been
placed there after the mortgage was constituted, are also included. (Arts. 110 and 111 of
the Mortgage Law, and 1877 of the Civil Code; decision of U.S. Supreme Court in the
matter of Royal Insurance Co. vs. R. Miller, liquidator, and Amadeo [26 Sup. Ct. Rep.,
46; 199 U.S., 353].)
2. ID.; ID.; INCLUSION OR EXCLUSION OF MACHINERY, ETC. In order that it
may be understood that the machinery and other objects placed upon and used in
connection with a mortgaged estate are excluded from the mortgage, when it was stated
in the mortgage that the improvements, buildings, and machinery that existed thereon
were also comprehended, it is indispensable that the exclusion thereof be stipulated

between the contracting parties.
The appellant contends that the installation of the machinery and equipment claimed by him in
the sugar central of the Mabalacat Sugar Company, Inc., was not permanent in character
inasmuch as B.A. Green, in proposing to him to advance the money for the purchase thereof,
made it appear in the letter, Exhibit E, that in case B.A. Green should fail to obtain an additional
loan from the defendants Cu Unjieng e Hijos, said machinery and equipment would become
security therefor, said B.A. Green binding himself not to mortgage nor encumber them to
anybody until said plaintiff be fully reimbursed for the corporation's indebtedness to him.
Upon acquiring the machinery and equipment in question with money obtained as loan from the
plaintiff-appellant by B.A. Green, as president of the Mabalacat Sugar Co., Inc., the latter
became owner of said machinery and equipment, otherwise B.A. Green, as such president, could
not have offered them to the plaintiff as security for the payment of his credit.
Article 334, paragraph 5, of the Civil Code gives the character of real property to "machinery,
liquid containers, instruments or implements intended by the owner of any building or land for
use in connection with any industry or trade being carried on therein and which are expressly
adapted to meet the requirements of such trade or industry.
If the installation of the machinery and equipment in question in the central of the Mabalacat
Sugar Co., Inc., in lieu of the other of less capacity existing therein, for its sugar industry,
converted them into real property by reason of their purpose, it cannot be said that their
incorporation therewith was not permanent in character because, as essential and principal
elements of a sugar central, without them the sugar central would be unable to function or carry
on the industrial purpose for which it was established. Inasmuch as the central is permanent in
character, the necessary machinery and equipment installed for carrying on the sugar industry for
which it has been established must necessarily be permanent.
Furthermore, the fact that B.A. Green bound himself to the plaintiff B.H. Berkenkotter to hold
said machinery and equipment as security for the payment of the latter's credit and to refrain
from mortgaging or otherwise encumbering them until Berkenkotter has been fully reimbursed
therefor, is not incompatible with the permanent character of the incorporation of said machinery
and equipment with the sugar central of the Mabalacat Sugar Co., Inc., as nothing could prevent
B.A. Green from giving them as security at least under a second mortgage.
As to the alleged sale of said machinery and equipment to the plaintiff and appellant after they
had been permanently incorporated with sugar central of the Mabalacat Sugar Co., Inc., and
while the mortgage constituted on said sugar central to Cu Unjieng e Hijos remained in force,
only the right of redemption of the vendor Mabalacat Sugar Co., Inc., in the sugar central with
which said machinery and equipment had been incorporated, was transferred thereby, subject to
the right of the defendants Cu Unjieng e Hijos under the first mortgage.
For the foregoing considerations, we are of the opinion and so hold: (1) That the installation of a
machinery and equipment in a mortgaged sugar central, in lieu of another of less capacity, for the
purpose of carrying out the industrial functions of the latter and increasing production,
constitutes a permanent improvement on said sugar central and subjects said machinery and
equipment to the mortgage constituted thereon (article 1877, Civil Code); (2) that the fact that
the purchaser of the new machinery and equipment has bound himself to the person supplying
him the purchase money to hold them as security for the payment of the latter's credit, and to
refrain from mortgaging or otherwise encumbering them does not alter the permanent character
of the incorporation of said machinery and equipment with the central; and (3) that the sale of the
machinery and equipment in question by the purchaser who was supplied the purchase money, as
a loan, to the person who supplied the money, after the incorporation thereof with the mortgaged
sugar central, does not vest the creditor with ownership of said machinery and equipment but
simply with the right of redemption.
Wherefore, finding no error in the appealed judgment, it is affirmed in all its parts, with costs to
the appellant. So ordered.

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G.R. No.

July 31, 1935

B.H. BERKENKOTTER, plaintiff-appellant,

were also comprehended, it is indispensable that the exclusion thereof be stipulated

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