G.R. No. 208336 - VILLA CRISTA MONTE REALTY & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, VS. EQUITABLE PCI BANK (NOW KNOWN AS BANCO DE ORO UNIBANK, INC.), AND THE EX-OFFICIO SHERIFF OF QUEZON CITY AND/OR HIS DEPUTY OR AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVES.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, the said interest rates were then re-priced as agreed upon; and that the said re-pricing even started only on July 1997, although the original promissory notes were executed in 1996, and were only renewed in early 1997. E-PCIB stressed that appellant then not only accepted the stipulation on monthly re-pricing but also the new interest rates, as re-priced, by its payment of the corresponding adjusted interest rates until it later defaulted to pay even the interest rates to keep the loans current. Inasmuch as the dispute lies only on the rates of interests and no longer on the fact that appellant was already in default in its payment, E-PCIB argued that appellant failed to prove its right to an injunction. E-PCIB maintained that it merely complied with the provisions of the Promissory Notes. [4] On April 7, 2009, the RTC rendered judgment in favor of Equitable PCI Bank (E-PCIB), holding that the loan contracts between the parties were supported by several promissory notes, a fact admitted by no less than the petitioner's own President, Cresencio Tio (Tio); [5] that Tio also testified that the documents included a rider dealing with the monthly repricing of the interest rates; that the protest allegedly made against the repricing was not established; that the plaintiff (petitioner herein) paid the adjusted interest rates; and that the evidence on record sustained the validity of the real estate mortgage and its amendment. [6] The RTC concluded that the extra-judicial foreclosure proceedings taken against the petitioner's mortgaged properties were valid; that the non­ inclusion in the notice of sale of the exact amount of the lawful charges did not prejudice the petitioner; and that the certificate of sale, the consolidation of title in the name of E-PCIB, and the corresponding issuance of the certificates of title in its name were also valid. [7] The petitioner appealed to the CA. As stated, the CA promulgated its now assailed decision on February 21, 2013 affirming the judgment of the RTC. The CA observed that the petitioner had defaulted on its loan obligations, thereby triggering the foreclosure proceedings brought against it; that the only real issue to be resolved was whether or not the monthly repricing of the interest rates on the loans, which the petitioner claimed to have been unilaterally imposed by E­ PCIB, [8] was valid; that the contracting parties were allowed to stipulate on any rate of interest on the loans by virtue of Resolution No. 224 and Central Bank Circular No. 905, which rendered the Usury Law ineffective; that nonetheless E-PCIB as the lender could not unilaterally impose increased interest rates because the parties had still to agree on the rate of interest to be applied to their transactions; [9] that there was no proof showing that the petitioner had been coerced into agreeing to the terms and conditions of the loans, or that it had been tricked into signing the promissory notes pertaining to the monthly rep