Case Digest (G.R. No. L-17396)
Facts:
Cecilio Pe, et al. v. Alfonso Pe, G.R. No. L-17396. May 30, 1962, the Supreme Court En Banc, Bautista Angelo, J., writing for the Court.
Plaintiffs are the parents, brothers and sisters of Lolita Pe; defendant Alfonso Pe is a married man and an adopted son of a collateral relative of Lolita’s family. Plaintiffs sued in the Court of First Instance of Manila for moral, compensatory, exemplary and corrective damages amounting to P94,000.00 (exclusive of attorney’s fees and litigation expenses) under Article 21 of the New Civil Code, alleging that defendant carried on an illicit affair with Lolita and thereby caused injury to the family’s name and reputation.
The trial court found that defendant frequented Lolita’s home beginning about 1952, initially under the pretext of learning to pray the rosary; that clandestine trysts and exchanged love notes occurred in Gasan and Boac; that plaintiffs forbade further contact and even filed deportation proceedings against defendant (a Chinese national), but the affair continued; and that Lolita disappeared from her family’s Quezon City residence on April 14, 1957, leaving behind a crumpled note in defendant’s handwriting arranging a meeting. Despite these findings, the trial court dismissed the complaint, reasoning that plaintiffs had not proved that defendant, knowing his marital status, deliberately and in bad faith induced Lolita’s affection rather than the two having mutually fallen in love.
Plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court asserting that the c...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Under Article 21 of the New Civil Code, does the illicit affair between the married defendant and the unmarried Lolita give rise to an actionable claim for damages by Lolita’s parents and siblings?
- Did the evidence presented establish that defendant deliberately and in bad faith induced or seduced Lolita, such that the trial court erred ...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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