Dignos vs. Court of Appeals, and Jabil
158 SCRA 378
February 1988
FACTS:
In July 1965, herein petitioners Silvestre T. Dignos and Isabela Lumungsod de Dignos (spouses Dignos) sold their parcel of land in Opon, Lapu–Lapu to herein private respondent Antonio Jabil for the sum of P28,000 payable for two installments, with an assumption of indebtedness with the First Insular Bank of Cebu in the sum of P12,000 and the next installment of P4,000 to be paid in September 1965. In November 1965, the spouses Dignos sold the same parcel of land for P35,000 to defendants Luciano Cabigas and Jovita L. de Cabigas (spouses Cabigas) who were then US citizens, and executed in their favor an Absolute Deed of Sale duly registered in the Office of the Register of Deeds.
Upon discovery of the 2nd sale of the subject land, Jabil filed the case at bar in the CFI of Cebu which rendered its Decision in August 1975 declaring the 2nd sale to the spouses Cabigas null and void ab initio and the 1st sale to Jabil not rescinded. The CFI of Cebu also ordered Jabil to pay the remaining P16,000 to the spouses Dignos and to reimburse the spouses Cabigas a reasonable amount corresponding the expenses in the construction of hollow block fences in the said parcel of land. The spouses Dignos were also ordered to return the P35,000 to the spouses Cabigas.
Both Jabil and the spouses Dignos appealed to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed in July 1981 the CFI of Cebu’s Decision except for the part of Jabil paying the expenses of the spouses Cabigas for building a fence. The spouses Dignos contested that the contract between them and Jabil was merely a contract to sell and not a deed of sale.
ISSUE:
Is the contract between the parties a contract of sale or a contract to sell?
COURT RULING:
The Supreme Court affirmed the Decision of the Court of Appeals saying stated that all the elements of a valid contract of sale are present in the document and that the spouses Dignos had no right to sell the land in question because an actual delivery of its possession has already been made in favor of Jabil as early as March 1965. It was also found that the spouses Dignos never notified Jabil by notarial act that they were rescinding the contract, and neither did they file a suit in court to rescind the sale. There is no showing that Jabil properly authorized a certain Cipriano Amistad to tell petitioners that he was already waiving his rights to the land in question.
