G.R. No. L-34338, 21 November 1984

FACTS:

Valerio Lim was found guilty of the crime of estafa… appeal was taken to the then Court of Appeals which affirmed the decision of the lower court but modified the penalty. The appellant is a businesswoman. The appellant went to the house of Maria Ayroso and proposed to sell Ayroso’s tobacco. Ayroso agreed to the proposition of the appellant to sell her tobacco consisting of 615 kilos at P1.30 a kilo. The appellant was… to receive the overprice for which she could seU the tobacco. This agreement was made in the presence of plaintiffs sister, Salud G. Bantug.

This is to certify that I have received from Mrs. Maria de Guzman Vda. de Ayroso, of Gapan, Nueva Ecija, six hundred fifteen kilos of leaf tobacco to be sold at P1.30 per kilo. The proceed in the amount of Seven Hundred Ninety Nine Pesos and 50/100 (P 799.50) will be given to… her as soon as it was sold.Of the total value of P799.50,… the appellant had paid toAyroso only P240.00, and this was paid on three different times.Demands for the payment of the balance of the value of the tobacco were made upon the appellant by Ayroso, and particularly by her sister, Saiud Bantug.

ISSUES:

1.Whether the receipt, Exhibit “A”, is a contract of agency to sell or a contract of sale of the subject tobacco between petitioner and the complainant, Maria de Guzman Vda. de Ayroso, thereby precluding criminal liability of petitioner for… the crime charged.
2. Whether or not the Honorable Court of Appeals was legally right in holding that “Art. 1197 of the New Civil Code does not apply”.

RULING:

It is clear in the agreement, Exhibit “A”, that the proceeds of the sale of the tobacco should be turned over to the complainant as soon as the same was sold, or, that the obligation was immediately demandable as soon as the tobacco was disposed ‘of. Hence, Article 1197 of… the New Civil Code, which provides that the courts may fix the duration of the obligation if it does not fix a period, does not apply.

The fact that appellant received the tobacco to be sold at P1.30 per kilo and the proceeds to be given to complainant as soon as it was sold, strongly negates transfer of ownership of the goods to the petitioner. The agreement (Exhibit “A”) constituted her as an agent with… the obligation to return the tobacco if the same was not sold.

*Case digest by Jan Robert M. Corre, JD-4, Andres Bonifacio Law School, SY 2019-2020