[ G. R. No. 32041, March 29, 1930 ]
MABIA ANGELES RAMOS, ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF VIVENCIO RAMOS AFABLE, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLANT, VS. CHO CHUN CHAC ET AL., DEFENDANTS AND APPELLEES.
D E C I S I O N
OSTRAND, J.:
Upon trial, the Court of First Instance rendered a judgment declaring that the deed in question was executed in fraud of creditors and therefore null and void, and absolved the defendants from the complaint. From this judgment the plaintiff appealed.
The appellant's contention is that beginning with August 2, 1921, Pio Martinez on various occasions borrowed money from his father-in-law, Dr. Ramos Afable; that on September 1, 1925, a liquidation of the loans was made, and it is alleged that the total amount of said loans, with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, reached the sum of P15,676.51; that thereupon, on the same date, the document Exhibit A, assigning the property interests in question to Dr. Ramos Afable, was executed. The consideration is alleged to have been the cancellation of the aforesaid debt plus the sum of P4,323.49, which sum ia alleged to have been paid in cash to Pio Martinez.
According to paragraph 2 of article 1297 of the Civil Code, alienation of property for valuable consideration, made by a person against whom an unsatisfied judgment is outstanding, raises a presumption of fraud, and the question here is whether the evidence presented by the plaintiff is sufficient to rebut that presumption.
Except in regard to the loan of P1,800 made on August 2, 1921, the evidence presented by the plaintiff is, in our opinion, insufficient. No receipts or vales for the loans have been shown, and the testimony of Pio Martinez is practically the only evidence before us. He and his family lived with his father-in-law, who could not have been ignorant of the existence of the judgment against Pio. The haste shown in assigning the latter's inheritance strongly indicates that the transaction was intended to deprive the herein defendants of their rights.
We think, however, that there is sufficient evidence in the record to show that the loan of P1,800 to Pio Martinez on August 2,1921, was a bona fide transaction. It was secured by an unrecorded mortgage on several parcels of land, and though the document is not in the record, the circumstances of the loan were such that there can be but little doubt of its existence. At the time the loan was made, the defendants had no judgment against Pio Martinez. It was made in good faith and constituted a valid credit in favor of the estate of Dr. Ramos Afable, and must therefore be considered a prior lien on the one-tenth portion of the estate of Romana Ascue inherited by Pio Martinez and purchased by the herein defendants at the aforesaid execution sale.
For the reasons stated, the appealed judgment is confirmed with the modification that the sum of P1,800, with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from August 2,1921, shall constitute a prior lien in favor of the estate of Vivencio Ramos Afable upon the portion of the estate of Romana Ascue purchased by the defendants Cho Chun Chac and Cho Koh Liong, as aforesaid, and that in the distribution of that estate, said sum, with interest, shall be deducted from the one-tenth portion, now held by the defendants, and shall be paid to the estate of Vivencio Ramos Afable. Without costs. So ordered.
Malcolm, Villamor, Johns, Romualdez and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.