DAYRIT v.

COURT OF APPEALS and praying, inview thereof, for a 30-day grace period within which to pay the
(1970, Ruiz Castro, J.) plaintiff. The 30-day grace period was granted by the court in its orderof
February 24, 1968.
PETITIONER: Vincent P. Dayrit  On March 25, 1968, petitioner filed another motion for 20 days' extension within
RESPONDENTS: Court of Appeals, Hon. Francisco Arca, judge of CFI of Manila, which to pay his one-third share of the judgment obligation and to submit the
Mobil Oil Philippines, Inc., and Eladio Ylagan, special sheriff corresponding compromise agreement for the satisfaction of the judgment. The
said motion was granted.
FACTS:  Thereafter, the respondent Mobil filed all "Urgent Reply to Opposition and Motion
 On July 21, 1965, defendants Vincent Dayrit, Leonila T. Sumbillo and Reynaldo to Stay Execution dated February 21, 1968 and Motion dated March 25, 1968,"
Angeles entered into a contract with Mobil Oil Philippines, Inc., entitled "LOAN & alleging therein that the respondent agreed to release the mortgage or collateral
MORTGAGE AGREEMENT": for the entire judgment obligation only if "the whole principal mortgaged debt
 For and in consideration of Sales Agreement dated July 21,1965, among the plus the whole accrued interest" were fully paid. Mobil further prayed for a writ
parties herein, Mobil grants a loan of P150,000 to borrowers. of execution to be issued against the petitioner after the lapse of 20 days from
 Defendants-Borrowers shall repay Mobil the whole amount of P150,000 plus March 25, 1968, if by then the parties shall not have submitted a compromise
10% interest per annum on the diminishing balance for 48 months. agreement for the satisfaction of the judgment; Mobil also reiterated its prayer
 To secure the prompt repayment of such loan by defendants borrowers to for the appointment of respondent Eladio Ylagan as special sheriff.
Mobil and the faithful performance by Borrowers of that Sales Agreement,  On April 3, 1968 the petitioner filed a manifestation and motion, praying that he
Defendants-Borrowers hereby transfer in favor of Mobil by way of first be allowed to deposit with the Clerk of Court the amount corresponding to his
mortgage lands covered by TCT No.45169 and TCT No. 45170, together one-third share of the obligation under the decision of November 17, 1967, and
with the improvements existing in said two (2) parcels of land. that thereupon the collateral or mortgage over petitioner's properties or lands be
 In case of default of Defendants-Borrowers in payment of any of the ordered released or cancelled.
installments and/or their failure to purchase the quantity of products stated  Court a quo ordered all pending incidents set for hearing on April 19, 1968, "so
therein Mobil shall have the right to foreclose this mortgage. that the Court may have the opportunity to confer with the parties to thresh out
 Mobil, in case of default and foreclosure shall be entitled to attorney's fees the settlement of this case." At this hearing Mobil did not appear; the court reset
and cost of collection equivalent to not less than 25%of total indebtedness the hearing for May 23, 1968.
remaining unpaid.  Under date of May 8, 1968, Mobil filed an addendum to its reply dated April 1,
 All expenses in connection with the preparation and registration of this 1968 and opposition to petitioner's motion dated April3, 1968, playing that the
mortgage as well as cancellation of same shall the for the account of motion of petitioner Dayrit that the entire mortgaged collateral be released upon
Defendants-Borrowers. his payment of mere 1/3 of the loan obligation, be denied and instead a writ of
 If Defendants-Borrowers shall perform the full obligation above stated execution against him in accordance with the dispositive portion of the decision
according to the terms thereof, then this obligation shall be null and void, and Sections 2 and 3 of Rule 68 of the Revised Rules of Court be issued.
otherwise, it shall remain in full force and effect.  On May 18, 1968 the petitioner filed his rejoinder to respondent Mobil's aforesaid
 The defendants violated the Loan & Mortgage Agreement, they having paid but addendum and opposition.
one installment in the amount of P3,816, of which P1,250 was applied to  On May 23, 1968, after hearing oral argument, the court denied the
interest, and the remaining P2,566 to the principal obligation. The defendants manifestation and motion of Dayrit filed thru counsel and dated April 3, 1968;
likewise failed to buy the quantities of products as required in the Sales the court further ruled that "There is no further need to issue an order for the
Agreement. The plaintiff made due demand, which Dayrit answered, issuance of a writ of execution and appointment of special, sheriff ... considering
acknowledging his liability in his letter. that the Court, in its order of February 24, 1968, has already ordered the
 TC: in favor of the plaintiff issuance of a writ of execution for the satisfaction of the judgment." 
 No appeal having been interposed by the defendants, the above decision became  CA: dismissed the petition for certiorari, there being no abuse of discretion in
final and executory. ordering the execution of a final judgment. Details of execution for satisfaction of
 An undated Mobil's motion for execution of the decision and for the appointment Vincent Dayrit's liability will be worked out in connection with the safe of the
of Eladio Ylagan as special sheriff was received by the petitioner Dayrit on collateral for mortgaged debt, and the judgment in Civil Case No. 64138 of the
February 8, 1968. Whereupon, he filed his opposition and motion to stay CFI-Manila a will control the disposition and application of the collateral.
execution ,alleging that before the finality of the aforesaid judgment, he and the
plaintiff had agreed not to appeal and/or file any motion for reconsideration, the ISSUE: W/N the CFI and the CA erred in refusing to allow the alleged proposed
petitioner offering to pay his one-third share with a reasonable discount, if deposit of a sum equivalent to 1/3 of the loan agreed upon and in refusing to release
possible, in so far as the interests and the award for attorney's fees were forever the collaterals owned by Dayrit, although the other 2/3 portion of the loan
concerned, with the corresponding release of the mortgage on all his properties, obligation had not been satisfied due to insolvency of the other two co-defendants.
 proceeds to be applied in payment of the amount due to the plaintiff from the
HELD/RATIO: NO. defendants as claimed in the complaint. While it is true that the obligation is
1. PROCEDURAL ISSUE: The present petition was filed with this Court six days late, merely joint and each of the defendants is obliged to pay only his/her 1/3 share
contrary to and in violation of Section 1, Rule 45, which specifically provides that a of the joint obligation, the undisputed fact remains that the intent and purpose
petition for certiorari under such Rule should be filed within 15 days from notice of of the Loan and Mortgage Agreement was to secure, inter alia, die entire loan of
judgment or denial of motion for reconsideration. Hence, the present petition may be P150,000 that the respondent Mobil extended to die defendants. The court below
dismissed on the aforestated ground. But we opt, nevertheless, to consider the merits found that the defendants had violated the Loan and Mortgage Agreement, they
of this case, if only to demonstrate to the petitioner his error. having paid but one installment. The undisputed fact also remains that the
petitioner alone benefited from the proceeds of the loan of P150,000, the said
2. The decision of the lower court has admittedly become final and executory. The amount havingbeen paid directly to the Bank of the Philippines to bail out the
controverted judgment ordered the defendants (Dayrit, Sumbillo and Angeles) "to same properties from a mortgage that was about to be foreclosed. In effect,
pay to the plaintiff one-third each of the sum of P147,434.00 with interest of 10% Mobil merely stepped into the shoes of the Bank of the Philippines.
per annum from the time it fell due according to agreement, and in default of such  Petitioner: the dispositive portion of the judgment declaring the obligation
payment, the properties put up in collateral shall be sold in foreclosure sale in merely joint with the proviso that "as to Dayrit, his liability shall in no case
accordance with law, the proceeds to be applied in payment of the amount due to exceed 1/3 of the total obligation," should be construed in the light of the
the plaintiff from the defendants as claimed in the complaint, provided that, as to opinion of the lower court that "said collateral must answer in full but only to the
Dayrit, his liability shall in no case exceed 113 of the total obligation." extent of Dayrit's liability which as above determined, is 1/3 of the obligation,"
 The prayer of the complaint filed with the CFI recites as follows: thereby entitling him to pay or deposit in court his correspondent share of the
 WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that judgment be rendered joint obligation in satisfaction thereof, with the automatic release of all the
(a) Ordering the defendants to pay the sum of P147,434 with 10%interest mortgaged properties.
per annum from the time it fell due as agreed upon and that in default of  A judgment must be distinguished from an opinion. The latter is the informal
such payment, the above described properties be sold and the proceeds of expression of the views of the court and cannot prevail against its final order
sale be applied to the payment of the amount due to the plaintiff from the or decision. "While the two may be combined in one instrument, the opinion
defendants under this complaint. forms no part of the judgment. There is a distinction between the findings
 The complaint, in effect, is a collection suit with damages and foreclosure of and conclusion of a court and its judgment. While they may constitute its
mortgage against the three defendants, Leonila Sumbillo, Reynaldo Angeles and decision and amount to a rendition of a judgment they are not the judgment
Vincent Dayrit. Although the Loan and Mortgage Agreement was signed by the itself. They amount to nothing more than an order for judgment which must
three defendants as mortgagors, the properties being foreclosed belong solely be distinguished from the judgment. Only the dispositive portion may be
to, and are registered solely in the name of the petitioner Vincent Dayrit. executed.”
 Petitioner: the judgment by the lower court is a simple money judgment and  A mortgage directly and immediately subjects the property upon which it is
not a foreclosure judgment, and that because Mobil resorted to the remedy of imposed, the same being indivisible even though the debt may be divided, and
enforcing his right by a complaint against the defendant-petitioner for collection such indivisibility likewise being unaffected by the fact that 'the debtors are not
of a sum of money, with the consequent simple money judgment, the solidarity liable. As Tolentino, in his Commentaries and Jurisprudence on the Civil
satisfaction of his 1/3 share of the joint obligation would release all the Code of the Philippines, puts it:
mortgaged properties put up as collateral to secure the payment of the whole  "When several things are pledged or mortgaged, each thing for a
obligation. The reason advanced by the petitioner is that the decision rendered determinate portion of the debt, the pledges or mortgage, are considered
being a simple money judgment and not a mortgage foreclosure judgment, the separate from each other. But when the several things are given to secure
distinction in its execution is decisive. that is, whereas in mortgage foreclosure the same debt in its entirety, all of themare liable for the debt, and the
the judgment should conform to the requirement, embodied in Section 2, Rule creditor does not have to divide his action by distributing the debt among
68of the Rules of Court, that the order of payment be made into the court the various things pledgedor mortgaged. Even when only a part of the debt
"within a period not less than ninety (90) days, x x x and in default of such remains unpaid, all the things are still liable for such balance." Hence, a
payment, the property mortgaged be sold to realize" the indebtedness, in a mortgage voluntarily constituted by the debtor on two or more parcels of
simple money judgment, upon satisfaction of part (in the instant case his 1/3 land is one and indivisible, and the mortgagee has the right to have either or
share) of the joint obligation, the mortgaged properties should be released from both parcels, jointly or singly, sold to satisfy his claim. In case the
such mortgage contract. mortgaged properties are a house and lot, it cannot be claimed that the lot
 The decision which the petitioner describes as a simple money judgment orders and the house should be sold separately and not together."
the defendants Vincent Dayrit, Leonila T. Sumbilloand Reynaldo Angeles to pay  But then there is this other seeming posture of the petitioner: that the judgment
the plaintiff the sum of P147,434, and in default of such payment, the properties which has become final and executory either modified or superseded the Loan
put up in collateralshall be sold. In foreclosure sale in accordance with law, the and Mortgage Agreement between the parties, and since the obligation is merely
 joint, upon payment thereof, as in attachment, the properties mortgaged are
released from liability. The decision under consideration, however, did nothing of
the sort. The petitioner conveniently refuses to recognize the true import of the
dispositive portion of the judgment. The said portion unequivocally states that "in
default of such payment, the properties put up in collateral shall be sold in
foreclosuresale in accordance with law, the proceeds to be applied in payment of
the amount due to the plaintiff as claimed in the complaint."And the claim in the
complaint was the full satisfaction of the total indebtedness of P147,434;
therefore, the release of all themortgaged properties may be authorized only
upon the full payment of the above-stated amount secured by the said
mortgage.
 With respect to the provisions of Section 2 of Rule 68 of the Rules of Court giving
the petitioner a period of 90 days within which liemight voluntarily pay the debt
before the sale of the collateral at public auction was ordered, we agree that the
trial court failed toprovide such period. However, this failure can be regarded as
having resulted in mere dammum absque injuria.From November 17, 1967 when
the decision was rendered to May 23, 1968 when the final order to sell the
mortgaged properties wasissued, a period of more than six months had passed,
which is considerably much more than the 90-day period of grace allowed
thepetitioner to validly tender the proper payment.

DISPOSITIVE: Petition is denied, at petitioner's cost.