Case report by: Padilla, Kayrel V.

Bachrach Motors v Talisay-Silay Milling Co.

G.R. No. 42462. August 31, 1937||Imperial, J.

Doctrine: Bonus is not civil fruits as contemplated in Art. 442. It is not one of those meant by the law when it says other similar income since the phrase refers merely to things analogous to rents, leases and annuities. Assuming that it is income, still, it is not income obtained or derived from the land itself, but income obtained as compensation for the risk assumed by the owner. Facts: The Talisay- Silay Milling Co., Inc., in order to secure its indebtedness to the Philippine National Bank, induced its planters, among whom was Mariano Ledesma to mortgage their land to the creditor bank. As compensation and bonus to those planters for the risk they were running with their property under the mortgage, the aforesaid central, by a resolution passed on December 22, 1923, granted to respondent, Mariano Lacson Ledesma, the sum of P19,911.11, which sum, however, would not be payable until the month of January, 1930.

Thereafter, or on December 20, 1929, Bachrach Motor Co., Inc., brought an action in the Court of First Instance of Iloilo against the Talisay-Silay Milling Co., Inc., to recover from it the sum of P13,850 against the bonus or dividend which, by virtue of the resolution of December 22, 1923, said Central Talisay-Silay Milling Co., Inc., had declared in favor of the defendant Mariano Lacson Ledesma as one of the owners of the hacienda which had been mortgaged to the Philippine National Bank to secure the obligation of the Talisay-Silay Milling Co., Inc., in favor of said bank.

The Philippine National Bank, on the other hand, on February 13, 1930, filed a complaint in intervention alleging that in had a preferred right to said bonus granted by the central to the defendant Mariano Lacson Ledesma as one of the owners of the haciendas which had been mortgaged to said bank to answer for the obligations of the Central Talisay-Silay Milling Co., Inc., basing such allegation on the fact that, as said properties were mortgaged to it by the debtor Mariano Lacson Ledesma, by virtue of the deed to secure the obligations of the Talisay-Silay Milling Co., Inc., and said bonus being a civil fruit of the mortgaged lands, said bank was entitled to it on the ground that the mortgage of August 9, 1923, had become due.Issue:Whether the bonus in question is a civil fruit and hence should pertain to PNB on account of the mortgage of Ledesmas land?Held:No. The bonus is not a civil fruit. The Supreme Court held that the bonus had no immediate relation to the lands in question but merely a remote and accidental one and, therefore, it was not a civil fruit of the real properties mortgaged to the Philippine National Bank to secure the obligation of the Talisay-Silay Milling Co., Inc., being a mere personal right of Mariano Lacson Ledesma. It is not one of those meant by Art. 442 of the Civil Code when it says other similar income since the phrase merely refers to things analogous to rents, leases, and annuities. Assuming that it is income, still it is not income obtained or derived from the land itself, but obtained as compensation for the risk assumed by the owner. It should, moreover, be remembered that the bonus was not based upon the value or importance of the land but upon the total value of the debt secured. Hence, the PNB does not have a preferred right with regard to the bonus as against herein petitioner.