CASE DIGEST: Heirs of Intac v. CA (G.R. No. 173211)
G.R. No. 173211 : October 11, 2012 | HEIRS OF DR. MARIO S. INTAC and ANGELINA MENDOZA-INTAC, Petitioners, v. COURT OF APPEALS and SPOUSES MARCELO ROY, JR. and JOSEFINA MENDOZA-ROY and SPOUSES DOMINADOR LOZADA and MARTINA MENDOZA-LOZADA, Respondents. MENDOZA, J.:
FACTS: During the lifetime of Ireneo Mendoza (Ireneo), he executed a deed of absolute sale involving a property located in Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City in favor of spouses Angelina and Mario Intac (spouses Intac). Consequently, TCT No. 242655 was issued in favorof the spouses Intac. The deed was executed because the spouses Intac needed to borrow the title of the property and to use the same as collateral for their loan application.
Respondents Josefina Mendoza-Roy and Martina Mendoza-Lozada, heirs of the late Ireneo, sought the cancellation of TCT No. 242655 claiming that the sale was only simulated, and therefore, void.
Both the RTC and the CA declared that the deed of absolute sale was null and void and ordered the cancellation of TCT No. 242655.Hence, this present recourse.
ISSUE: Whether or not the deed of absolute sale was a simulated contract or a valid agreement?
HELD: The Court finds no merit in the petition.
Accordingly, for a contract to be valid, it must have three essential elements: (1) consent of the contracting parties; (2) objectcertain which is the subject matter of the contract; and (3) cause of the obligation which is established. In a contract of sale, its perfection is consummated at the moment there is a meeting of the minds upon the thing that is the object of the contract and upon the price. Consent is manifested by the meeting of the offer and the acceptance of the thing and the cause, which are to constitute the contract.
If the parties state a false cause in the contract to conceal their real agreement, the contract is only relatively simulated and the parties are still bound by their real agreement. Hence, where the essential requisites of a contract are present and the simulation refers only to the content or terms of the contract, the agreement is absolutely binding and enforceable between the parties and their successors in interest.
In absolute simulation, there is a colorable contract but it has no substance as the parties have no intention to be bound by it. The main characteristic of an absolute simulation is that the apparent contract is not really desired or intended to produce legal effect or in any way alter the juridical situation of the parties. As a result, an absolutely simulated or fictitious contract is void, and the parties may recover from each other what they may have given under the contract.
In the case at bench, the Court is one with the courts below that no valid sale of the subject property actually took place between the alleged vendors, Ireneo and Salvacion; and the alleged vendees, Spouses Intac. There was simply no consideration and no intent to sell it. Petition is DENIED.
FACTS: During the lifetime of Ireneo Mendoza (Ireneo), he executed a deed of absolute sale involving a property located in Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City in favor of spouses Angelina and Mario Intac (spouses Intac). Consequently, TCT No. 242655 was issued in favorof the spouses Intac. The deed was executed because the spouses Intac needed to borrow the title of the property and to use the same as collateral for their loan application.
Respondents Josefina Mendoza-Roy and Martina Mendoza-Lozada, heirs of the late Ireneo, sought the cancellation of TCT No. 242655 claiming that the sale was only simulated, and therefore, void.Both the RTC and the CA declared that the deed of absolute sale was null and void and ordered the cancellation of TCT No. 242655.Hence, this present recourse.
ISSUE: Whether or not the deed of absolute sale was a simulated contract or a valid agreement?
HELD: The Court finds no merit in the petition.
Accordingly, for a contract to be valid, it must have three essential elements: (1) consent of the contracting parties; (2) objectcertain which is the subject matter of the contract; and (3) cause of the obligation which is established. In a contract of sale, its perfection is consummated at the moment there is a meeting of the minds upon the thing that is the object of the contract and upon the price. Consent is manifested by the meeting of the offer and the acceptance of the thing and the cause, which are to constitute the contract.
If the parties state a false cause in the contract to conceal their real agreement, the contract is only relatively simulated and the parties are still bound by their real agreement. Hence, where the essential requisites of a contract are present and the simulation refers only to the content or terms of the contract, the agreement is absolutely binding and enforceable between the parties and their successors in interest.
In absolute simulation, there is a colorable contract but it has no substance as the parties have no intention to be bound by it. The main characteristic of an absolute simulation is that the apparent contract is not really desired or intended to produce legal effect or in any way alter the juridical situation of the parties. As a result, an absolutely simulated or fictitious contract is void, and the parties may recover from each other what they may have given under the contract.
In the case at bench, the Court is one with the courts below that no valid sale of the subject property actually took place between the alleged vendors, Ireneo and Salvacion; and the alleged vendees, Spouses Intac. There was simply no consideration and no intent to sell it. Petition is DENIED.
