Galang vs Court of Appeals

Contract of Sale – Encargado

On July 16, 1976, Ramon Buenaventura on his own behalf and as attorney-in-fact of Angeles, Corazon, Amparo, and Maria Luisa, all surnamed Buenaventura, sold to Guadalupe and Marcelino Galang 2 parcels of land situated in Tagaytay City. Marcelino and Guadalupe Galang, herein petitioners paid to the sellers the 1^st 25% of the purchases price as stated in a deed. Therafter, they allegedly demanded from private respondents the removal of the encargado from the premises and the delivery of the owners duplicate certificate of the title. Private respondents failed to do so despite the willingness of petitioners to pay the 2^nd 25% of the purchase price. Consequently, Marcelino and Guadalupe Galang filed on March 18, 1977 a complaint for specific performance with damages.

ISSUE: Whether or not the encargado was a tenant.

HELD: The Court discerns no reversible error in the finding and conclusion of the trial court that the unnamed encargado on the lands in question is actually a tenant or agricultural lessee. The bases of this ineluctable conclusion are not hard to so, as succinctly pointed out by the court a quo, the encargado is staying in his own existing house thereon, and subject agricultural land is planted with coffee and other plants not only by the encargado but also by his deceased parents. The court held that there is no bases for rescinding the contract because the removal of the encargado was not a precedent to the contract. Rather it was one alternative periods of payment of the 2^nd installment given by the seller himself to the buyers. Secondly, even granting that it was indeed a legal status of the encargado, the lower court was rash in holding that the encargado was a tenant of the land in question. The petition is hereby granted and the decision of the CA is reversed and set aside. Petitioners are ordered to pay the full 75% balance.

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