G.R. No. 170325 - PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK, VS. ERLANDO T. RODRIGUEZ AND NORMA RODRIGUEZ.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, in view of the foregoing, the Court hereby renders judgment, as follows: Defendant is hereby ordered to pay the plaintiffs the total amount of P2,345,804.00 or reinstate or restore the amount of P775,337.00 in the PNBig Demand Deposit Checking/Current Account No. 810480-4 of Erlando T. Rodriguez, and the amount of P1,570,467.00 in the PNBig Demand Deposit, Checking/Current Account No. 810624-6 of Erlando T. Rodriguez and/or Norma Rodriguez, plus legal rate of interest thereon to be computed from the filing of this complaint until fully paid; The defendant PNB is hereby ordered to pay the plaintiffs the following reasonable amount of damages suffered by them taking into consideration the standing of the plaintiffs being sugarcane planters, realtors, residential subdivision owners, and other businesses: (a) Consequential damages, unearned income in the amount of P4,000,000.00, as a result of their having incurred great dificulty ( sic ) especially in the residential subdivision business, which was not pushed through and the contractor even threatened to file a case against the plaintiffs; (b) Moral damages in the amount of P1,000,000.00; (c) Exemplary damages in the amount of P500,000.00; (d) Attorney's fees in the amount of P150,000.00 considering that this case does not involve very complicated issues; and for the (e) Costs of suit. Other claims and counterclaims are hereby dismissed. [6] CA Disposition PNB appealed the decision of the trial court to the CA on the principal ground that the disputed checks should be considered as payable to bearer and not to order. In a Decision [7] dated July 22, 2004, the CA reversed and set aside the RTC disposition. The CA concluded that the checks were obviously meant by the spouses to be really paid to PEMSLA. The court a quo declared: We are not swayed by the contention of the plaintiffs-appellees (Spouses Rodriguez) that their cause of action arose from the alleged breach of contract by the defendant-appellant (PNB) when it paid the value of the checks to PEMSLA despite the checks being payable to order. Rather, we are more convinced by the strong and credible evidence for the defendant-appellant with regard to the plaintiffs-appellees' and PEMSLA's business arrangement - that the value of the rediscounted checks of the plaintiffs-appellees would be deposited in PEMSLA's account for payment of the loans it has approved in exchange for PEMSLA's checks with the full value of the said loans. This is the only obvious explanation as to why all the disputed sixty-nine (69) checks were in the possession of PEMSLA's errand boy for presentment to the defendant-appellant that led to this present controversy. It also appears that the teller who accepted the said checks was PEMSLA's officer, and that such was a regular practice by the parties until the defendant-appellant discovered the scam. The logical conclusion, therefore, is that the checks were never meant to be paid to order, but instead, to PEMSLA.