Dignos vs.

Court of Appeals, and Jabil

G.R. No. L-59266 February 1988

FACTS:

In July 1965, Silvestre T. Dignos and Isabela Lumungsod de Dignos sold their parcel of land in Opon,
LapuLapu to 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 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and the 1st sale to Jabil not rescinded.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 Cebus 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:

Whether or not subject contract is a deed of absolute sale or a contract to sell.

Held:

The Supreme Court affirmed the Decision of the Court of Appeals. All the elements of a valid contract
of sale under Article 1458 of the Civil Code, are present, such as: (1) consent or meeting of the
minds; (2) determinate subject matter; and (3) price certain in money or its equivalent. In addition,
Article 1477 of the same Code provides that "The ownership of the thing sold shall be transferred to
the vendee upon actual or constructive delivery thereof." Dignos has 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.