Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila
EN BANC
G.R. No. L-12271 May 31, 1949
BENIGNO DEL RIO, plaintiff-appellant,
vs.
CARLO PALANCA TANGUINLAY, defendant-appellee.
Sotto & Sotto for appellant.
Ramon Diokno for appelle.
TUASON, J.:
This suit was brought to recover money which plaintiff alleges to have furnished from December, 1942 to February, 1945 for the support and subsistence of defendant's five minor natural children. The amount is itemized in plaintiff's Exhibit A, a statement signed by the minor's mother and which reads as follows:
Por la presente certifico que en el periodo que cubre del 1 de noviembre de 1942 hastaaa el 31 de enero de 11945 he recibido en calidad de prestamo y coninteres del 6% anuaal de Don Benigno del Rio las cantidades que mas abajo se detallan en sus correspondientes recibos:
|
Recibo primero, 31-Dic-19443 ...................................... |
P7,200.00 |
|
Recibo segundo, 1-Sept-1944 ...................................... |
18,668.00 |
|
Recibo tercero, 31-Dic-11945 ....................................... |
81,400.00 |
|
Recibo carto, 21-Ene-1945 ........................................... |
54,000.00 |
|
Total .................................................................................. |
P161,2268.00 |
Son:
Ciento Sesentaa y un Mil Doscientoss sesentta y ocho pesos.
S. E. u O
Manila, 1 de Marzo de1945 (Fda.)
Maria Cuartero Gomez
Tutora de los Menores Palanca Cuatero
Nota: — Aqui no estaa incluido un prestamo hecho a Don Vicente Singson Encarnacion el 19 de Septt. de 1944 del que es sollidariaaa y mancomunadamente fiador Don Benigno del Rio, prestamo que tiene que reconocer Don Carlos Palanca.
The action is based on article 1894 of the Civil Code which reads:
Cuando, sin conocimiento del obligado a prestar alimentos, los diese un extraño, este tendra derecho a reclamarlos de aacquel, a no constar que los dio por officio de piedad y sin aammino de reclamarlos.
Analyzing the foregoing provision, this Court observed in Ramirez vs. Redfern, 49 Phil., 849, that "For one to ecover under the provisions of article 1894 of the Civil Code, it must be alleged and proved, first, that support has been furnished a dependent of one bound to give support but who fails to do so; second, that the support was supplied by a tranger;and third, that the support was given without the knowledge of the person charged with the duty."
With reference to the first requisite, the record reveals that in acase for support instituted by Maria Dolores Cuartero inn behalf of her children against the defendant, the Curt of First Instance of Manila handed down a decision on September 22, 1943, approvinng an agreement by the parties wherebythe defendant promised to paay the mother of the mmminors P1,500 a month for their maintenance. It is also appearss that before that date — on May 9, 1942 — the parties had signed a carta-convenio for the same purpose but for a lower rate of allowance per month. It is not denied that the defendant more than complied with the terms of the above decision. Besides P1,500 a month, he sent the children extra cash and foodstuffs, shoes and clothings.
And the plaintiff admittedly was aware of the foregoing arrangement. What he say is that P1,500 a month was utterly insufficient. The remedy in that case was to ask the court to increase the allowance. It may be said in this connection that if the value of the preavaling Japanese currency had deteriorate, the court, in our opinion, retained the jurisdication to increase or diminish the allowance as the circumstances might justify. However, as matter of fact, P1,500 a month was deemed by the court as late as August 8, 1944, to be adequate. In denying a motion of the children mother to raise the allowance, the court stated that P1,500 was sufficient to pullthe children through those critical days in comparative comport.
The third requirement of the law is also lacking. The plaintiff made the alleged advances not only with the knowledge but apparently against the wishes of the defendant. In Exhibit F, a memorandum dated January 1, 1943, and sent by the plaintiff to the defendant, Del Rio informed Palanca that up to December 31, 1942, he had bande Maria Dolores Cuartero P750 as a loan for the support and education of the defendant's children and requested that that amount be paid. It will be noted that in the same Exhibit, the plaintiff complained that the defendant had not answered his previous letters, "recordandole los prestamos que yo le hago a Doña Maria y Vd. se hace sorio."
In the face of this attitude of the defendant, the plaintiff was not justified in continuing supplying money to the mother of the children, unless he wanted to give it out of charity or without the expectation of recovering it from the defendant. His remedy is against Maria Dolores Cuartero.
This conclusion makes unnecessary a discussion of the second requirement. It suffices to estate that the plaintiff and one of the children were engaged and were married afterward.
Paras, Feria, Pablo, Perfecto, Bengzon, Montemayor and Reyes, JJ., concur.
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