[ G.R. No. L-5910, February 08, 1955 ]
DOMINGA DE SANTOS, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLANT, VS. ANDRES VIVAS, ET AL., DEFENDANTS AND APPELLEES.
D E C I S I O N
PARAS, C.J.:
Section 2 of Rule 72 provides that "No landlord, or his legal representative or assign, shall bring such action against a tenant for failure to pay rent due or to comply with the conditions of his lease, unless the tenant shall have failed to pay such rent or comply with such conditions for a period of fifteen days, or five days in the case of building, after demand therefor, made upon him personally, or by serving written notice of such demand upon the person found on the premises, or by posting such notice on the premises if no persons be found thereon."A demand to vacate is indispensable in order to determine whether the tenant's possession has become illegal and the complaint is filed within one year after said demand. Former Chief Justice Moran commented that such demand is jurisdictional, and if none is made, the case falls within the jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance. Moran, Comments on the Rules of Court, 1952 ed., Vol. 2, pp. 310-311.)
The appellant, however, cites Co Tiamco vs. Diaz, 75 Phil., 672, in support of the proposition that "the demand when required to be made by the Rules must be proved but need not be alleged in the complaint." Appellant's citation is not only out of point but also in a way decisive against his position, because it was held therein that referring to section 2 of Rule 72, "it is apparent from this provision that a demand is a pre-requisite to an action for unlawful detainer, when the action is 'for failure to pay rent due or to comply with the conditions of his lease, and not where the action is to terminate the lease because of the expiration of its term. This ruling 13 in all fours with the present appeal, in which the ground for the alleged illegal Retainer is a violation of the tenancy, and not the expiration of the term of the lease which was involved in the case of Co Tiamco vs. Diaz.
Another ground, equally fatal to the appellant, is that, as the complaint unquestionably refers to an agricultural tenancy case, it fell under the jurisdiction of and should have been brought before the Court of Industrial Relations. Wherefore, the appealed order is affirmed, and it is so ordered, with costs against the plaintiff.
Pablo, Bengzon, Padilla, Montemayor, Reyes, A., Jugo, Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion and Reyes, J.B.L., JJ., concur.