G.R. No. 136914 - COUNTRY BANKERS INSURANCE CORPORATION, VS. LIANGA BAY AND COMMUNITY MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE, INC..D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, where the demand is established with reasonable certainty, the interest shall begin to run from the time the claim is made judicially or extrajudicially (Art. 1169, Civil Code) but when such certainty cannot be so reasonably established at the time the demand is made, the interest shall begin to run only from the date the judgment of the court is made (at which time the quantification of damages may be deemed to have been reasonably ascertained). The actual base for the computation of legal interest shall, in any case, be on the amount finally adjudged. When the judgment of the court awarding a sum of money becomes final and executory, the rate of legal interest, whether the case falls under paragraph 1 or paragraph 2, above, shall be 12% per annum from such finality until its satisfaction, this interim period being deemed to be by then an equivalent to a forbearance of credit. In the said case of Eastern Shipping , the Court further observed that a forbearance in the context of the usury law is a contractual obligation of lender or creditor to refrain, during a given period of time, from requiring the borrower or debtor to repay a loan or debt then due and payable. Considering the foregoing, the insurance claim in this case is evidently not a forbearance of money, goods or credit, and thus the interest rate should be as it is hereby fixed at six percent (6%) computed from the date of filing of the complaint. We find no justification for the award of actual damages of Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00). Well-entrenched is the doctrine that actual, compensatory and consequential damages must be proved, and cannot be presumed. [16] That part of the dispositive portion of the Decision of the trial court ordering the petitioner to pay actual damages of Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00) has no basis at all. The justification, if any, for such an award of actual damages does not appear in the body of the decision of the trial court. Neither is there any testimonial and documentary evidence on the alleged actual damages of Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00) to warrant such an award. Thus, the same must be deleted. Concerning the award of exemplary damages for Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00), we likewise find no legal and valid basis for granting the same. Article 2229 of the New Civil Code provides that exemplary damages may be imposed by way of example or correction for the public good. Exemplary damages are imposed not to enrich one party or impoverish another but to serve as a deterrent against or as a negative incentive to curb socially deleterious actions. They are designed to permit the courts to mould behavior that has socially deleterious consequences, and its imposition is required by public policy to suppress the wanton acts of an offender. However, it cannot be recovered as a matter of right. It is based entirely on the discretion of the court. We find no cogent and valid reason to award the same in the case at bar. With resp