[ G.R. No. 22404. May 31, 1971 ] 148-A Phil. 169
[ G.R. No. 22404. May 31, 1971 ]
PASTOR B. CONSTANTINO, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT, VS. HERMINIA ESPIRITU, DEFENDANT-APPELLEE. D E C I S I O N
DIZON, J.:
This is a direct appeal on a question of law taken by Pastor B. Constantino from an order of the Court of First Instance of Rizal denying his motion for the admission of his amended complaint in Civil Case No. 5924, entitled “Pastor B. Constantino vs. Herminia Espiritu.”
Appellant’s complaint alleged, inter alia, that he had, by a fictitious deed or absolute sale annexed thereto, conveyed to appellee on October 30, 1953, for a consideration of P8,000.00, the two-storey house and four (4) subdivision lots covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. 20174 issued by the Register of Deeds of Rizal on October 25, 1950 in the name of Pastor B. Constantino, married to Honorata Geukeko, with the understanding that appellee would hold the properties in trust for their illegitimate son, Pastor Constantino, Jr., still unborn at the time of the conveyance; that thereafter appellee mortgaged said properties to the Republic Savings Bank of Manila twice to secure payment of two loans, one of P3,000.00 and the other of P2,000.00, and that thereafter she offered them for sale. The complaint then prayed for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction restraining appellee and her agents or representatives from further alienating or disposing of the properties, and for judgment ordering her to execute a deed of absolute sale of said properties in favor of Pastor B. Constantino, Jr., the beneficiary (who, at the filing of said complaint, was about five years of age), and to pay attorney’s fees in the sum of P2,000.00.
As a result of the conveyance mentioned heretofore, TCT No. 20714 in the name of plaintiff was partially cancelled and in lieu thereof, TCT No. 32744 was issued by the Register of Deeds of Rizal in the name of appellee Herminia Espiritu.
On December 16, 1959, appellee moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that it stated no cause of action because Pastor Constantino, Jr., the beneficiary of the alleged trust, was not included as party-plaintiff, and on the further ground that appellant’s cause of action was unenforceable under the Statute of Frauds.
In his opposition to said motion to dismiss, appellant argued that the Statute of Frauds does not apply to trustee and cestui que trust as in the case of appellee and her illegitimate child, and that for this reason appellant would not be barred from proving by parol evidence an implied trust existing under Article 1453 of the Civil Code. On the other hand, in her rejoinder to appellant’s opposition, appellee argued that what the former was invoking in his complaint (Paragraph V, Complaint) was an implied trust under Article 1453 of the Civil Code and not an express trust under Section 3, Rule 3 of the Revised Rules of Court. Finding the grounds alleged in the motion to dismiss to be meritorious, the trial court dismissed the complaint, with costs.
Immediately after receiving notice of said order of dismissal, appellant filed a motion for the admission of an amended complaint, attaching thereto a copy thereof, the amendment consisting mainly of the inclusion of the minor, Pastor Constantino, Jr. as co-plaintiff. The amended complaint further prayed for the appointment of appellant as said minor’s guardian ad litem. An opposition thereto was filed on the ground that the amendment aforesaid was not an inclusion but a substitution of the party plaintiff. As the latter had no interest whatsoever in the subject matter of the case, it was argued that the substitution was not allowed in this jurisdiction. Appellant’s answer to appellee’s opposition alleged that, as the ground relied upon in said opposition was purely technical, even the substitution of the party plaintiff should be allowed under Section 2, Rule 17 of the Rules of Court. Thereafter the lower court issued the appealed order denying appellant’s motion for the admission of his amended complaint. Hence, the instant direct appeal.
The original as well as the amended complaint mentioned above allege that the sale made by appellant Constantino in favor of appellee of the properties described in said pleadings was subject to the agreement that the vendee would hold them in trust for their at that time already conceived but unborn illegitimate child; that the vendee violated this agreement, firstly, by subjecting them to two different contracts of mortgage, and later by trying to sell them, this being not only in violation of the aforesaid agreement but prejudicial to the cestui que trust; that the action was commenced to compel the vendee to comply with their agreement by executing the corresponding deed of conveyance in favor of their minor son, and to desist from further doing any act prejudicial to the interests of the latter.
It appears then that, upon the facts alleged by appellant, the contract between him and appellee was a contract pour autrui, although couched in the form of a deed of absolute sale, and that appellant’s action was, in effect, one for specific performance. That one of the parties to a contract is entitled to bring an action for its enforcement or to prevent its breach is too clear to need any extensive discussion. Upon the other hand, that the contract involved contained a stipulation pour autrui amplifies this settled rule only in the sense that the third person for whose benefit the contract was entered into may also demand its fulfillment provided he had communicated his acceptance thereof to the obligor before the stipulation in his favor is revoked.
It appearing that the amended complaint submitted by appellant to the lower court impleaded the beneficiary under the contract as a party co-plaintiff, it seems clear that the three parties concerned therewith would, as a result, be before the court and the latter’s adjudication would be complete and binding upon them.
The ruling in the case of Echaus vs. Gan, 55 Phil. 527 involving facts similar to the ones before Us is of obvious application to the latter. We quote the following pertinent portions of our decision in said case:
“This action was instituted in the Court of First Instance or Occidental Negros by Adoracion Rosales de Echaus, assisted by her husband Enrique Echaus, for the purpose of obtaining a judicial order requiring the defendant Maria Gan, as administratrix of the estate of her deceased husband, Manuel Gay Yulingco, as well as the heirs of said decedent, to execute in due form a contract, with appropriate description of the real property involved, in conformity with the terms of an agreement dated September 3, 1927, executed by the deceased Manuel Gay Yulingco, in life, and Enrique Echaus, one of the plaintiffs in the case (Exhibit A). To this action the defendants interposed a general answer and cross-complaint, in the latter of which they sought a decree annulling the contract Exhibit A as excessively onerous and illegal. Upon hearing the cause the trial court absolved the plaintiffs from the cross-complaint and gave judgment in favor of the plaintiffs upon the complaint, requiring the defendants, within thirty days from the date of the finality of the decision, to execute before a notary public and deliver to the plaintiffs a contract similar in terms to that indicated in the Exhibit A but containing, in addition, a description of the real property involved, in such form as would enable the plaintiff’s to procure said contract to be inscribed on the certificate of title corresponding to said property, with costs against the defendants. From this judgment the defendants appealed.
x x x x
The contract in question, Exhibit A, on which this action is based, was executed by Manuel Gay Yulingco and Enrique Echaus, and although the contract binds Yulingco to pay to Adoracion Rosales de Echaus, the wife of Enrique Echaus, the sum of fifty centavos for each picul of sugar that may be produced upon the two haciendas covered by the contract during the fourteen years beginning with the crop for 1927-1928, nevertheless this action is not instituted by the nominal beneficiary, Adoracion Rosales de Echaus, directly for the purpose of obtaining the benefit which said contract purports to confer upon her. The purpose of the action is to compel the defendants to execute a contract pursuant to the tenor of the contract Exhibit A, but containing an adequate description of the property contained in the two haciendas, for the purpose of enabling Echaus to procure the annotation of said contract on the Torrens certificates of title. It is therefore evident that, technically speaking, the proper person to bring this action is Enrique Echaus, the person with whom the contract was made by Yulingco. It is, nevertheless, equally obvious that the wife of Enrique Echaus is a party in interest, and she is certainly a proper, if not an entirely necessary party to the action. It results that there is really no improper joinder of parties plaintiff.”
Whether the contract of sale entered into between appellant and appellee was - as claimed in the amended complaint - subject to the agreement that appellee would hold the properties in trust for their unborn child is a question of fact that appellee may raise in her answer for the lower court to determine after trial. On the other hand, the contention that the contract in question is not enforceable by action by reason of the provisions of the Statute of Frauds does not appear to be indubitable, it being clear upon the facts alleged in the amended complaint that the contract between the parties had already been partially performed by the execution of the deed of sale, the action brought below being only for the enforcement of another phase thereof, namely, the execution by appellee of a deed of conveyance in favor of the beneficiary thereunder.
WHEREFORE, the appealed order is hereby set aside and the case is remanded to the lower court for further proceedings in accordance with law.
Concepcion, C.J., Reyes, J.B.L., Zaldivar, Castro, Teehankee, and Villamor, JJ., concur. Makalintal, J., in the result. Barredo, J., concurs in a separate opinion. Makasiar, J., concurs in the separate opinion of Justice Barredo.