CASE #46:

G.R. No. L-29131 August 27, 1969

NATIONAL MARKETING CORPORATION, plaintiff-appellant,

vs.
MIGUEL D. TECSON, ET AL., defendants,
MIGUEL D. TECSON, defendant-appellee,
THE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER, petitioner.

RELEVANT TOPIC: REVIVAL OF JUDGMENT / HOW TO COMPUTE A YEAR

FACTS:

Herein petitioner NATIONAL MARKETING CORPORATION seeks for the revival of the judgment rendered in Case
No. 20520 entitled "Price Stabilization Corporation vs. Miguel D. Tecson and Alto Surety and Insurance Co., Inc.".
The said judgment was rendered by the Court of First Instance of Manila on November 14, 1955.

Defendant Miguel D. Tecson moved to dismiss said complaint, upon the ground of lack of jurisdiction over the
subject matter thereof and prescription of action.

The court ruled that the matter of jurisdiction must be admitted. However, it agreed that the action has prescribed
noting that, as admitted by the plaintiffs, the decision of the Court became final on December 21, 1955 while the
subsequent case was filed exactly on December 21, 1965. The court stressed that the case was filed beyond the
ten-year period allowed as the years 1960 and 1964 were both leap years so that when this present case was filed
it was filed two days too late.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the present action for the revival of a judgment is barred by the statute of limitations and whether
or not the extra days during leap years should be included in counting a year.

RULING:

The court ruled in the affirmative.

Pursuant to Article 1144(3) of our Civil Code, an action upon a judgment "must be brought within ten years from
the time the right of action accrues," which, in the language of Art. 1152 of the same Code, "commences from the
time the judgment sought to be revived has become final." This, in turn, took place on December 21, 1955, or
thirty (30) days from notice of the judgment which was received by the defendants herein on November 21,
1955 no appeal having been taken therefrom. The issue is thus confined to the date on which ten (10) years
from December 21, 1955 expired. The term year is of three hundred sixty-five days.

As to whether or not the extra day in a leap year must be counted, the court ruled in this wise: There is no
question that when it is not a leap year, December 21 to December 21 of the following year is one year. If the extra
day in a leap year is not a day of the year, because it is the 366th day, then to what year does it belong? Certainly,
it must belong to the year where it falls and, therefore, that the 366 days constitute one year."