G.R. No. 110610 - ARTURO R. MACAPAGAL, VS. HON. COURT OF APPEALS, HON. RAMON AM. TORRES AND ESTEBAN YAU.

Ruling

Accordingly, trial proceeded in the lower court, during which only one of the defendants, Pablo Carlos, Jr., who had filed an answer, took part, although he did not present evidence in his defense. On March 27, 1991 judgment was rendered for private respondent Esteban Yau. The trial court found the facts as follows: On January 2, 1981, the plaintiff [Esteban Yau] was enticed into purchasing from PHILFINANCE Cebu City Branch, Promissory Note No. 3447 purportedly issued by the Philippine Shares Corporation. The plaintiff paid PHILFINANCE the amount of One Million Six Hundred Thousand (P1,600,000.00) Pesos (Exhs. A and B). PHILFINANCE delivered to the plaintiff Confirmation of Sale No. 20432 dated January 22, 1981 and a written undertaking, also dated January 22, 1981 (Exh. D) in which PHILFINANCE guaranteed to return plaintiffs purchase or investment of P1,600,000.00 on March 24, 1981, plus earnings in the respective amounts of P21,911.11 and P5,158.56 on February 20, 1981, and, in the additional amounts of P24,177.78 and P5,688.89, respectively, on March 24, 1981. PHILFINANCE also delivered to the plaintiff the following post-dated checks: Check No. IBAA-10209324 for P1,600,000.00 dated March 24, 1981 (Exh. E) Check No. IBAA-11452715 for P5,688.89 dated March 24, 1981 (Exh. F), and Check No. IBAA-10209323 for P24,177.78 dated March 24, 1981 (Exh. G). However, the promissory note was never delivered to the plaintiff by PHILFINANCE on the pretext that it was allegedly in Manila, although Jose Amor Flores promised to deliver the same to the plaintiff upon its arrival from Manila. When the document still did not arrive, plaintiffs lawyer sent a letter of demand (Exh. H) on March 3, 1981, to PHILFINANCE in Makati, Metro Manila, without eliciting any reply. So, plaintiff sent two (2) telegrams (Exhs. I & J) to Philippine Shares Corporation. In its reply dated March 19, 1981 (Exh. K), Philippine Shares Corporation stated that the corporation has not issued or delivered to anyone the promissory note in question. On March 24, 1981, the plaintiff deposited in his account with the Pacific Banking Corporation, the three (3) checks (Exhs. E, F and G) issued and delivered to him by PHILFINANCE. Said checks were dishonored by the drawee bank for being drawn against insufficient funds (Exhs. E-6, F-6, and G-6). He re-deposited the same checks in his bank account but these were again dishonored for insufficient funds (Exhs. E-7, F-7 and G-7). On the basis of these facts, the trial court ordered: WHEREFORE, judgment is rendered in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants Philippine Underwriters Finance Corporation, Ricardo C. Silverio, Sr., Pablo C. Carlos, Jr., Arturo Macapagal, Florencio Biagan, Jr. and Miguel Angel Caño, ordering the latter, jointly and severally, to pay the former the following: (a) The principal amount of One Million, Six Hundred Thousand (P1,600,000.00) Pesos, representing the principal amount of the plaintiffs investment; (b) The