de La Peña Vs Hidalgo, G.R. No. L-5486
de La Peña Vs Hidalgo, G.R. No. L-5486
de La Peña Vs Hidalgo, G.R. No. L-5486
SYLLABUS
DECISION
TORRES , J : p
On May 23, 1906, Jose de la Peña y de Ramon, and Vicenta de Ramon, in her own
behalf and as the legal guardina of her son Roberto de la Peña, led in the Court of First
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Instance of Manila a written complaint against Federico Hidalgo, Antonio Hidalgo, and
Francisco Hidalgo, and, after the said complaint, already amended, had been answered
by the defendants Antonio and Francisco Hidalgo, and the other defendant, Federico
Hidalgo, had moved for the dismissal of this complaint, the plaintiff, Jose de la Peña y
de Ramon, as the judicial administrator of the estate of the deceased Jose de la Peña
Gomiz, with the consent of the court filed a second amended complaint prosecuting his
action solely against Fedirico Hidalgo, who answered the same in writing on the 21st of
May and at the same time led a counterclaim, which was also answered by the
defendant.
On October 22, 1907, the case was brought up for hearing and oral testimony
was adduced by both parties, the exhibits introduced being attached to the record. In
view of such testimony and of documentary evidence, the court, on March 24, 1908,
rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff-administrator for the sum of P13,606.19 and
legal interest from the date of the ling of the complaint on May 24, 1906, and the
costs of the trial.
Both the plaintiff and the defendant led notice of appeal from this judgment and
also asked for the annulment of the same and for a new trial, on the ground that the
evidence did not justify the said judgment and that the latter was contrary to law. The
defendant, on April 1, 1908, presented a written motion for a new hearing, alleging the
discovery of new evidence favorable to him and which would necessarily in uence the
decision of this litigation, and that he was unable to discover such evidence or to
introduce it at the trial of the case, notwithstanding the fact that he had used all due
diligence. His petition was accompanied by a davits from Attorney Eduardo Gutierrez
Repide and Federico Hidalgo, and was granted by order of the court of the 4th of April.
At this stage of the proceedings and on August 10, 1908, the plaintiff Peña y De
Ramon led a third amended complaint, with the permission of the court, alleging,
among other things, as a rst cause of action, that during the period of time from
November 12, 1887, to January 7, 1904, when Federico Hidalgo has possession of and
administered the following properties; to wit; one house and lot at No. 48 Calle, San
Luis; another house and lot at No. 6 Calle Cortoda; another house and lot at No. 56 Calle
San Luis, and a fenced lot on the same street, all of the district of Ermita, and another
house and lot at No. 81 Calle Looban de Paco, belonging to his principal, Jose de la
Peña y Gomiz, according to the power of attorney executed in his favor and exhibited
with the complaint under letter A, the defendant, as such agent, amounting to P50,244,
which sum, collected in partial amounts and on different dates, he should have
deposited, in accordance with the verbal agreement between the deceased and himself,
the defendant, in the general treasure of the Spanish Government at an interest of 5 per
cent per annum, which interest on accrual was likewise to be deposited in order that it
also might bear interest; that the defendant did not remit or pay to Jose de la Peña y
Gomiz, during the latter's lifetime, nor to any representative of the said De la Peña
Gomiz, the sum aforestated nor any part thereof, with the sole exception of P1,289.03,
nor has he deposited the unpaid balance of the said sum in the treasury, according to
agreement, wherefore he has become liable to his principal and to the defendant-
administrator for the said sum, together with its interest, which amounts to P72,548.24
and that, whereas the defendant has not paid over all nor any part for the last-
mentioned sum, he is liable for the same, as well as for the interest thereon at 6 per
cent per annum from the time of the ling of the complaint, and for the costs of the
suit.
On the 25th of September, 1908, and subsequent dates, the new trial was held;
oral testimony was adduced by both parties, and the documentary evidence was
attached to the record of the proceedings, which show that the defendant objected and
took exception to the introduction of certain oral and documentary evidence produced
by the plaintiff. On February 26, 1909, the court in deciding the case found that the
defendant, Federico Hidalgo, as administrator of the estate of the deceased Peña y
Gomiz, actually owed the plaintiff, on the date of the ling of the complaint, the sum of
P37,084.93; that the plaintiff was not entitled to recover any sum whatever from the
defendant for the alleged second, third, and fourth causes of action; that the plaintiff
actually owed the defendant, on the ling of the complaint, the sum of P10,155, which
the defendant was entitled to deduct from the sum owing by him to the plaintiff.
Judgment was therefore entered against the defendant, Federico Hidalgo, for the
payment of P26,629.93, with interest thereon at the rate of 6 per cent annum from May
23, 1906, and the costs of the trial.
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Both parties led written exceptions to this judgment and asked, separately, for
its annulment and that a new trial be ordered, on the grounds that the ndings of fact
contained in the judgment were not supported nor justi ed by the evidence produced,
and because the said judgment was contrary to law, the defendant stating in writing
that his exception and motion for a new trial referred exclusively to that part of the
judgment that was condemnatory to him. By order of the 10th of April, 1909, the
motions made by both parties were denied, to which they excepted and announced
their intention to file their respective bills of exceptions.
By a written motion of the 24th of March, 1909, the plaintiff prayed for the
execution of the said judgment, and the defendant being informed thereof solicited a
suspension of the issuance of the corresponding writ of execution until his motion for a
new trial should be decided or his bill of exceptions for the appeal be approved, binding
himself to give such bond as the court might x. The court, therefore, by order of the
25th of the same month, granted the suspension asked for, conditioned upon the
defendants giving a bond, xed at P34,000 by another order of the same date, to
guarantee compliance with the judgment rendered should it be a rmed, or with any
other decision that might be rendered in the case by the Supreme Court. This bond was
furnished by the defendant on the 26th of the same month.
On April 16 and May 4, 1909, the defendant and the plaintiff led their respective
bills of exceptions, which were certi ed to and approved by order of May 8th and
forwarded to the clerk of this court.
Before proceedings to examine the disputed facts and to make such legal
ndings as follow from a consideration of the same and of the questions of law to
which such facts give rise, and for the purpose of avoiding confusion and obtaining the
greased clearness and an easy comprehension of this decision, it is indispensable to
premise: First, that, as before related, the original and rst complaint led by the
plaintiff was drawn against Federico Hidalgo, Antonio Hidalgo, and Francisco Hidalgo,
the three persons who had successively administered the property of Jose de la Peña y
Gomiz, now deceased; but afterwards the action was directed solely against Federico
Hidalgo, to the exclusion of the other defendants, Antonio and Francisco Hidalgo, in the
second and third amended complaints, the latter of the date of August 10, 1908, after
the issuance by the court of the order of April 4th of the same year, granting the new
trial solicited by the defendant on his being noti ed of the ruling of the 24th of the
previous month of March; second, that the administration of the property mentioned,
from the time its owner left these Islands and returned to Spain, lasted from November
18, 1887, to January 7, 1904; and third, that, the administration of the said Federico,
Antonio, and Francisco Hidalgo, having lasted so long, it is necessary to divide it into
three periods in order to x the time during which they respectively administered De la
Peña's property: During the rst period, from November 18, 1887, to December 31,
1893, the property of the absent Jose de la Peña y Gomiz was administered by his
agent, Federico Hidalgo, under power of attorney; during the second period, from
January 1, 1894, to September, 1902, Antonio Hidalgo administered the said property,
and during the third period, from October, 1902, to January 7, 1904, Francisco Hidalgo
was its administrator.
Before Jose de la Peña y Gomiz embarked for Spain, on November 12, 1887, he
executed before a notary a power of attorney in favor of Federico Hidalgo, Antonio L.
Rocha, Francisco Roxas and Isidro Llado, so that, as his agents, they might represent
him and administer, in the order in which they were appointee, various properties he
owned and possessed in Manila. The rst agent, Federico Hidalgo, took charge of the
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administration of the said property on the 18th of November, 1887.
After Federico Hidalgo had occupied the position of agent and administrator of
De la Peña's property for several years, the former wrote to the latter requisition him to
designate a person who might substitute him in his said position in the event of his
being obliged to absent himself from these Islands, as one of those appointed in the
said power of attorney had died and the others did not wish to take charge of the
administration of their principal's property. The defendant, Hidalgo, stated that his
constituent, Peña y Gomiz, did not even answer his letters, to approve or object to the
former's accounts, and did not appoint or designate another person who might
substitute the defendant in his administration of his constituent's property. These
statements were neither denied nor proven to be untrue by the plaintiff, Peña y de
Ramon, nor does the record show any evidence tending to disapprove them, while it
does show, attached to the record and exhibited by the defendant himself, several
letters written by Hidalgo and addresses to Peña y Gomiz, which prove the said
statements, and also a letter from the priest Pedro Gomiz, a relative of the deceased
Jose de la Peña y Gomiz, addressed to Federico Hidalgo, telling the latter that the writer
had seen among the papers of the deceased several letters from the agent, Federico
Hidalgo, in which the latter requested the designation of a substitute, because he had to
leave this country for Spain, and also asked for the approval or disapproval of the
accounts of his administration which had been transmitted to his constituent, Peña y
Gomiz.
For reasons of health and by order of his physician, Federico Hidalgo was
obliged, on March 22, 1894, to embark for Spain, and, on preparing for his departure, he
rendered the accounts of his administration corresponding to the last quarters, up to
December 31, 1893, not a as yet transmitted, and forwarded them to his constituent
with a general statement of all the partial balances, which amounted to the sum total of
6,774.50 pesos, by letter of the date of March 22, 1894, addressed to his principal,
Peña y Gomiz. In this letter the defendant informed the latter of the writer's intended
departure from this country and of the and of this having provisionally turned over the
administration of the said property to his cousin, Antonio Hidalgo, upon whom the
writer had conferred a general power of attorney, but asking, in case that this was not
sufficient, that Peña send to Antonio Hidalgo a new power of attorney.
This noti cation is of the greatest importance in the decision of this case. The
plaintiff avers that he found no such letter among his father's papers after the latter's
death, for which reason he did not have it in his possession, but on introduction of a
copy thereof by the defendant at the trial, it was admitted without objection by the
plaintiff (p. 81 of the record); wherefore, in spite of the denial of the plaintiff and of his
averment of his not having found the said original among his father's papers, justice
demands that it be concluded that this letter of the 22d of March, 1894, was sent to,
and was received by Jose de la Peña y Gomiz, during his lifetime, for its transmittal,
with inclosure of the last partial accounts of Federico Hidalgo's administration and of
the general resume of balances, being a rmed by the defendant, the fact of the
plaintiff's having found among his deceased father's papers the said resume which he
exhibited at the trial, shows conclusively that it was received by the deceased, as well
as the letter of transmittal of the 22d of March, 1894, one of the several letters written
by Hidalgo, which the said priest, Father Gomiz, a rms that he saw among the papers
of the deceased Peña, the dates of which ran from 1890 to 1894; and it is also shown
by the record that the defendant Hidalgo positively asserted that the said letter of
March was the only one that he wrote to Peña during the year 1894: From all of which it
is deduced that the constituent, Peña y Gomiz, was informed of the departure of his
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agent from these Islands for reasons of health and because of the physician's advice,
of the latter's having turned over the administration of the property to Antonio Hidalgo,
and of his agent's, the defendant's petition that he send a new power of attorney to the
substitute.
The existence, among the papers of the deceased, of the aforementioned
statement of all accounts rendered, which comprise the whole period of the
administration of the property of the constituent by the defendant, Federico Hidalgo,
from November 18, 1887, to December 31, 1893 — a statement transmitted with the
last partial accounts which were a continuation of those already previously received —
and the said letter of March 22, 1894, fully prove that Jose de la Pena y Gomiz also
received the said letter, informed himself of its contents, and had full knowledge that
Antoine Hidalgo commence to administer his property from January of that year. They
likewise prove that he did not see t to execute a new power of attorney in the latter's
favor, nor to appoint or designate a new agent to take charge of the administration of
his property that had been abandoned by the defendant, Federico Hidalgo.
All the reasons hereinbefore given relate to the rst cause of action, whereby
claim is made against Federico Hidalgo for the payment of the sum of P72,548.24 and
interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, and they have decided some of the errors
assigned by the appellants in their briefs to the judgment appealed from.
Two amounts are claimed which have one and the same origin, yet are based on
two causes of action, the second and the third alleged by the plaintiff; and although the
latter, afterwards convinced by the truth and of the impropriety of his claim, had to
waive the said third cause of action during the second hearing of his cause (pp. 57 and
42 of the record of the evidence), the trial judge, on the grounds that the said second
and third causes of action refer to the same certi cates of deposit of the treasury of
the Spanish Government, found, in the judgment appealed from, that the plaintiff was
not entitled to recover anything for the aforesaid second and third causes of action —a
nding that is proper and just, although quali ed as erroneous by the plaintiff in his
brief.
It appears, from the evidence take in this cause, that Jose de la Peña y Gomiz,
according to the certi cate issued by the chief of the division of archives (p. 982 of the
record), did not again during his lifetime, after having hi 1882 withdrawn from the
General Deposit Bank of the Spanish Government a deposit of 17,000 pesos and its
interest, deposit any sum therein until December 9, 1886, when he deposited two
amounts of 3,000 pesos each, that is, 6,000 pesos in all, the two deposit receipts for
the same being afterwards endorsed in favor of Gonzalo Tuason. The latter, on
December 9, 1887, withdrew the deposit and took out the said two amounts, together
with the interest due thereon, and on the same date redeposited them in the sum of
6,360 pesos at 5 per cent annum in the name of Jose de la Peña y Gomiz. On the 20th
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of December of the following year, 1888, the defendant Hidalgo received from his
principal, Peña y Gomiz, through Father Ramon Caviedas, the two said letters, of credit,
in order that he might withdraw from the General Deposit Bank the two amounts
deposited, together with the interest due thereon, amounting to 741 pesos, and with
this interest purchase a draft on London in favor of its owner and then redeposit the
original capital of 6,000 pesos. This, the defendant Hidalgo did and then delivered the
draft the the deposit receipt to Father Cavieda, of all the which transactions he
informed his principal by letter of the same date, transcribed on page 947 of the
second trial record.
In the following year, 1889, Father Ramon Cavieda again delivered to the
defendant Hidalgo the aforementioned deposit receipt with the request to withdraw
from the General Deposit Bank the sum deposited and to purchase a draft of 860
pesos on London in favor of their owner, Jose de la Peña y Gomiz, and, after deduction
the cost of the said draft from the capital and interest withdrawn from deposit,
amounting to 8,360 pesos, to redeposit the remainder, 5,500 pesos, in the bank
mentioned, in accordance with the instructions from Peña y Gomiz: All of which was
done by the defendant Hidalgo, who delivered to Father Caivedas the receipt for the
new deposit of 5,500 pesos as accredited by the reply-letter, transcribed on page 1609
of the record, and by the letter addressed by Hidalgo to Peña, of the date of December
20 of that year and shown as an original exhibit by the plaintiff himself on page 29 of
the record of the evidence.
Lastly, in December, 1890, Father Caviedas, aforementioned, delivered to the
defendant Hidalgo the said deposit receipt for 5,500 pesos in order that he might
withdraw this amount from deposit and deliver it with the interest thereon to the former
for the purpose of remitting it by draft to Jose de la Peña; this Hidalgo did, according to
a reply-letter from Father Caviedas, the original of which appears on page 979 of the file
of exhibits and is copied on page 171 of the trial record, and is apparently con rmed by
the latter in his sworn testimony.
So that the two amounts of 3,000 pesos each, expresses in two deposit receipts
received from De la Peña y Gomiz Francisco Hidalgo for the successive operations of
remittance and redeposit in the bank before mentioned, are the same and only ones
that were on deposit in the said bank in the name of their owner, Peña y Gomiz. The
defendant Hidalgo made two remittances by drafts on London, one in 1888 for 741.60
pesos, through a draft purchased from the Chartered Bank, and another in 1889 for 860
pesos, through a draft purchased from the house of Tuason & Co., and both in favor of
Peña y Gomiz, who received through Father Ramon Caviedas the remainder, 5,500
pesos, of the sums deposited. For these reasons, the trial judge was of the opinion that
the certi cates of deposit sent by Peña y Gomiz to Father Ramon Caviedas and those
received from the latter by the defendant Hidalgo were identical, as were likewise the
total amounts remitted expressed by the said receipts or certi cates of deposit, from
the sum of which were deducted the amounts remitted to Peña y Gomiz and the
remainder deposited after each annual operation until, nally, the sum of 5,500 pesos
was remitted to its owner, Peña y Gomiz, according to his instructions, through the said
Father Caviedas. The lower court, in concluding its judgment, found that the plaintiff
was not entitled to recover any sum whatever for the said second and third causes of
action, notwithstanding that, as hereinbefore stated, the said plaintiff withdrew the third
cause of action. This nding of the court, with respect to the collection of the amounts
of the aforementioned deposit receipts, is perfectly legal and in accordance with
justice, inasmuch as it is sustained by abundant and conclusive documentary evidence,
which proves in an incontrovertible manner the unrighteousness of the claim made by
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the plaintiff in twice seeking payment, by means of the said second and third causes of
action, of the same sum which, after various operations of deposit and remittance
during three years, was nally returned with its interest to the possession of its owner,
Peña y Gomiz.
From the trial had in this case, it also appears conclusively proved that Jose de la
Peña y Gomiz owed, during his lifetime, to Federico Hidalgo, 7,600 pesos, 4,000 pesos
of which were to bear interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, and the remainder
without any interest, and that, notwithstanding the lapse of the period of three years,
from November, 1887, within which he bound himself to repay the amount borrowed,
and in spite of his creditor's demand of payment, made by registered letter, the original
copy of which is on page 38 of the le of exhibits and a transcription thereof on page
930 of the rst and second record of the evidence, the debt was not paid up to the time
of the debtor's death. For such reasons, the trial court, in the judgment appealed from,
found that there was preponderance of evidence to prove that this loan had been made
and that the plaintiff actually owed the defendant the sum loaned, as well as the interest
thereon, after deducting therefrom the 2,000 pesos which the defendant received from
the plaintiff on account of the credit, and that the former was entitled to recover.
It appears from the pleadings and evidence at the trial that in January, 1904, on
the arrival in this city of Federico Hidalgo and the plaintiff, Jose de la Peña y de Ramon,
and on the occasion of the latter's proceeding to examine the accounts previously
rendered, up to December 31, 1893, by the defendant Hidalgo to the plaintiff's father,
then deceased, Hidalgo made demand upon the plaintiff, Peña y de Ramon, for the
payment of the said debt of his father, although the creditor Hidalgo acceded to the
requests of the plaintiff to grant the latter an extension of time until he should be able
to sell one of the properties of the estate. It was at that time, according to the
defendant, that the plaintiff Peña took up the instrument of indebtedness, executed by
his deceased father during his lifetime, and delivered to the defendant in exchange
therefore the document of the date of January 15, 1904, found on page 924 of the
second record of evidence, whereby the plaintiff, Jose de la Peña, bound himself to pay
his father's debt of 11,000 pesos, owing to the defendant Hidalgo, out of the proceeds
of the sale of some one of the properties speci ed in the said document, which was
written and signed by the plaintiff in his own handwriting.
The plaintiff not only executed the said document acknowledging his father's
debt and binding himself to settle it, but also, several days after the sale of a lot
belonging to the estate, paid to the creditor on account the sum of 2,000 pesos,
according to the receipt issued by the latter and exhibited on page 108 of the rst
record of evidence.
The said document, expressive of the obligation contracted by the plaintiff, Peña
y de Ramon, that he would pay to the defendant the debt of plaintiff's deceased father,
amounting to 11,000 pesos, out of the proceeds from some of the properties of the
estate, has not been denied nor impugment as false; and notwithstanding the averment
made by the plaintiff that when he signed he lacked information and knowledge of the
true condition of the affairs concerning Hidalgo's connection with the property that
belonged to De la Peña's father; it can not be denied that absolutely no proof whatever
is shown in the trial record of the creditor's having obtained the said document through
deceit or fraud — circumstances in a certain manner incompatible with the explicit
statements contained therein. For these reasons, the trial court, weighing the whole of
the evidence furnished by the record, found that the loan of the said 7,600 pesos was
truly and positively made, and that the plaintiff must pay that he was not entitled to
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recover the 2,000 pesos, as an undue payment made by him to the defendant creditor.
For the foregoing reason the other errors assigned by the plaintiff to the judgment
appealed from are dismissed.
With respect to the obligation to pay the interest due on the amounts concerned
in this decision, it must be borne in mind that, as provided by article 1755 of the Civil
Code, interest shall only be owed when it has been expressly stipulated, and that should
the debtor, who is obligated to pay a certain sum of money, be in default and fail to
ful ll the agreement made with his creditor, he must pay, as indemnity for losses and
damages, should there not be a stipulation to the express stipulation, the legal interest
(art. 1108 of the Civil Code); but, in order that the debtor may be considered to be in
default and obliged to pay the indemnity, it is required, as a general rule, that his
creditor shall demand of such debtor the ful llment of his obligation, judicially or
extrajudicially, except in such cases as are limitedly speci ed in article 1100 of the Civil
Code.
It was not expressly stipulated that either the balance of the last account
rendered by the defendant Federico Hidalgo in 1893, or the sum which the plaintiff
bound himself to pay to the defendant, in the instrument of the 15th of January, 1904,
should bear interest; nor is there proof that a judicial or extrajudicial demand was made,
on the part of the respective creditors concerned, until the date of the complaint, on the
part of the defendant. Therefore no legal interest is owing for the time prior to the
respective dates of the complaint and counterclaim.
By virtue, then, of the reasons hereinbefore set forth, it is proper, in our opinion, in
our opinion, to adjudge, as we do hereby adjudge, that the defendant, Federico Hidalgo,
shall pay to the plaintiff, Jose de la Peña y de Ramon, as administrator of the estate of
the deceased Jose de la Peña y Gomiz, the sum of P6,774.50, and the legal interest
thereon at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from the 23d of May, 1906, the date of the
ling of the original complaint in this case; that we should and hereby do declare that
the said defendant, Federico Hidalgo, is not bound to give nor render accounts of the
administrator of the property of the said deceased Jose de la Peña y Gomiz,
administered, respectively, by Antonio Hidalgo, from January, 1894, to September 30,
1902, and by Francisco Hidalgo, from October 1, 1902, to January 7, 1904, and
therefore the defendant, Federico Hidalgo, not being responsible for the results of the
administration of the said property administered by the said Antonio and Francisco
Hidalgo, we do absolve the said defendant from the complaint led by the plaintiff, in
so far as it concerns the accounts pertaining to the aforesaid two periods of
administration and relates to the payment of the balances resulting from such
accounts; and that we should and hereby do absolve the defendant Hidalgo from the
complaint with respect to the demand for the payment of the sums of P15,774.19 and
P2,000, with their respective interest, on account of the second and the fourth cause of
action, respectively, and, because the plaintiff renounced and withdrew his complaint,
with respect to the third cause of action; and that we should and do likewise adjudge,
that the plaintiff, Jose de la Peña y de Ramon, shall pay to Federico Hidalgo, by reason
of the counterclaim, the sum of P9,000 with legal interest thereon at the rate of 6 per
cent per annum from the 21st of May, 1907, the date of the counterclaim.
The judgment appealed from, together with that part thereof relative to the
statement it contains concerning the equivalence between the Philippine peso and the
Mexican peso, is a rmed in so far as it is in agreement with the ndings of this
decision, and the said judgment is reversed in so far as it is not in accordance herewith.
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No special finding is made as to costs assessed in either instance, and to the plaintiff is
reserved any right that he may be entitled to enforce against Antonio Hidalgo.
Arellano, C. J., Johnsons, Moreland and Trent, JJ., concur.