1) Adriano Vs Pangilinan
1) Adriano Vs Pangilinan
1) Adriano Vs Pangilinan
As between petitioner and respondent, we hold that the failure of the latter to
verify essential facts was the immediate cause of his predicament. If he were an
ordinary individual without any expertise or experience in mortgages and real
estate dealings, we would probably understand his failure to verify essential
facts. However, he has been in the mortgage business for seven years. Thus,
assuming that both parties were negligent, the Court opines that respondent
should bear the loss. His superior knowledge of the matter should have made
him more cautious before releasing the loan and accepting the identity of the
mortgagor.
Given the particular circumstances of this case, we believe that the negligence of
petitioner is not enough to offset the fault of respondent himself in granting the
loan. The former should not be made to suffer for respondents failure to verify
the identity of the mortgagor and the actual status of the subject property
before agreeing to the real estate mortgage. While we commiserate with
respondent -- who in the end appears to have been the victim of scoundrels --
his own negligence was the primary, immediate and overriding reason that put
him in his present predicament.