Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 245 views

    157 - Philbanking Vs Lui She, 21 SCRA 52

    Uploaded by

    Aljenneth Micaller
    This case involves contracts for a 50-year lease and 10-year option to purchase land between Justina Santos and Wong Heng. Santos later sought to annul the contracts, claiming Wong induced her through machinations. The court ruled the contracts were invalid as they effectively transferred ownership of the land to an alien, Wong, over time through the long-term lease and purchase option. This would circumvent the Philippine constitution's prohibition on alien land ownership. The court annulled the contracts and returned the land to Santos' estate.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    157 - Philbanking Vs Lui She, 21 SCRA 52

    Uploaded by

    Aljenneth Micaller
    245 views2 pages
    This case involves contracts for a 50-year lease and 10-year option to purchase land between Justina Santos and Wong Heng. Santos later sought to annul the contracts, claiming Wong induced her through machinations. The court ruled the contracts were invalid as they effectively transferred ownership of the land to an alien, Wong, over time through the long-term lease and purchase option. This would circumvent the Philippine constitution's prohibition on alien land ownership. The court annulled the contracts and returned the land to Santos' estate.

    Original Description:

    mm

    Original Title

    157 – Philbanking vs Lui She, 21 SCRA 52

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This case involves contracts for a 50-year lease and 10-year option to purchase land between Justina Santos and Wong Heng. Santos later sought to annul the contracts, claiming Wong induced her through machinations. The court ruled the contracts were invalid as they effectively transferred ownership of the land to an alien, Wong, over time through the long-term lease and purchase option. This would circumvent the Philippine constitution's prohibition on alien land ownership. The court annulled the contracts and returned the land to Santos' estate.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    245 views2 pages

    157 - Philbanking Vs Lui She, 21 SCRA 52

    Uploaded by

    Aljenneth Micaller
    This case involves contracts for a 50-year lease and 10-year option to purchase land between Justina Santos and Wong Heng. Santos later sought to annul the contracts, claiming Wong induced her through machinations. The court ruled the contracts were invalid as they effectively transferred ownership of the land to an alien, Wong, over time through the long-term lease and purchase option. This would circumvent the Philippine constitution's prohibition on alien land ownership. The court annulled the contracts and returned the land to Santos' estate.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    PHILBANKING v.

    LUI SHE

    FACTS:
    Justina Santos executed on a contract of lease in favor of Wong, covering the portion
    then already leased to him and another portion fronting Florentino Torres street.
    The lease was for 50 years, although the lessee was given the right to withdraw at
    any time from the agreement.
    On December 21 she executed another contract giving Wong the option to buy the
    leased premises for P120,000, payable within ten years at a monthly installment of
    P1,000. The option, written in Tagalog, imposed on him the obligation to pay for the
    food of the dogs and the salaries of the maids in her household, the charge not to
    exceed P1,800 a month. The option was conditioned on his obtaining Philippine
    citizenship, a petition for which was then pending in the Court of First Instance of
    Rizal.
    It appears, however, that this application for naturalization was withdrawn when it
    was discovered that he was not a resident of Rizal. On October 28, 1958 she filed a
    petition to adopt him and his children on the erroneous belief that adoption would
    confer on them Philippine citizenship. The error was discovered and the
    proceedings were abandoned.
    In two wills executed on August 24 and 29, 1959, she bade her legatees to respect
    the contracts she had entered into with Wong, but in a codicil of a later date
    (November 4, 1959) she appears to have a change of heart. Claiming that she made
    the various contracts because of machinations and inducements practiced by him,
    she now directed her executor to secure the annulment of the contracts.

    GENERAL ISSUE:
    Whether or not the lease contracts is valid.

    CONTROLLING ISSUE:
    Whether or not the lease contract is valid, thus granting rights to Wong.

    RULING: NO
    The contracts show nothing that is necessarily illegal, but considered collectively,
    they reveal an insidious pattern to subvert by indirection what the Constitution
    directly prohibits. To be sure, a lease to an alien for a reasonable period is valid. So
    is an option giving an alien the right to buy real property on condition that he is
    granted Philippine citizenship?
    But if an alien is given not only a lease of, but also an option to buy, a piece of land,
    by virtue of which the Filipino owner cannot sell or otherwise dispose of his
    property, this to last for 50 years, then it becomes clear that the arrangement is a
    virtual transfer of ownership whereby the owner divests himself in stages not only
    of the right to enjoy the land but also of the right to dispose of it— rights the sum
    total of which make up ownership. If this can be done, then the Constitutional ban
    against alien landholding in the Philippines, is indeed in grave peril.

    DISPOSITON:
    ACCORDINGLY, the contracts in question are annulled and set aside; the land
    subject-matter of the contracts is ordered returned to the estate of Justina Santos as
    represented by the Philippine Banking Corporation; Wong Heng (as substituted by
    the defendant-appellant Lui She) is ordered to pay the Philippine Banking
    Corporation, with legal interest; and the amounts consigned in court by Wong Heng
    shall be applied to the payment of rental. Costs against the defendant-appellant.

    You might also like