Case Digest (G.R. No. L-20320)
Facts:
Victoria Vda. de Gaston, Administratrix v. Republic of the Philippines, G.R. No. L-20320. March 30, 1967, Supreme Court En Banc, Dizon, J., writing for the Court.On February 1, 1962 the Republic of the Philippines (appellant) filed Special Proceeding No. 6226 in the Court of First Instance of Occidental Negros against the testate estate of the late German Gaston, praying that the administratrix, Victoria Vda. de Gaston (appellee), be ordered to pay P4,889.91 with interest (6% per annum, compounded quarterly) for five separate loans allegedly obtained by the deceased from the former Bank of Taiwan in 1943. The complaint included copies of five promissory notes (executed April 30, May 17, June 11, July 14 and December 1, 1943) and a chattel mortgage on standing crops on lands described as Hacienda Vesta Alegre and Marigasa, registered May 8, 1943, as security.
The claim alleged the Bank of Taiwan's account (including these loans) was sequestered by Vesting Order No. P-4 (January 21, 1946) and later transferred to the Republic pursuant to transfer agreements of 1954 and 1957, and that despite demands the debtor did not pay. On June 11, 1962 the administratrix opposed the claim, asserting it was barred by the statute of limitations because the cause of action accrued in 1943 and the present suit was filed some 14 years later. Ten days later the Republic replied that the statute of limitations did not run against the Government and that the running of prescription was interrupted by the wartime moratorium laws (Executive Order Nos. 25 and 32, promulgated November 18, 1944 and June 18, 1949).
By order dated July 19, 1962 the Court of First Instance susta...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the promissory notes become immediately demandable upon execution (i.e., are they demand notes) or did they mature only at the end of the 1943–1944 agricultural year?
- Did the moratorium on monetary obligations contracted before and during World War II suspend the running of prescription for the loans at issue, and if so, for what period?
- Taking maturity and the moratorium into account, was the Republic’s claim filed with...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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