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FIRST DIVISION

[G.R. No. 103576. August 22, 1996.]

ACME SHOE, RUBBER & PLASTIC CORPORATION and CHUA PAC,

petitioners, vs. HON. COURT OF APPEALS, PRODUCERS BANK OF THE
PHILIPPINES and REGIONAL SHERIFF OF CALOOCAN CITY,
respondents.

Sotto & Sotto Law Offices for petitioners.

R. C. Domingo, Jr., & Associates for Producers Bank of the Philippines.

SYLLABUS

1. REMEDIAL LAW; ACTIONS; APPEALS; APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT OF LOWER

COURTS, NOT A MATTER OF RIGHT BUT OF SOUND JUDICIAL DISCRETION. — Except in
criminal cases where the penalty of reclusion perpetua or death is imposed which the Court so
reviews as a matter of course, an appeal from judgments of lower courts is not a matter of right but
of sound judicial discretion. The circulars of the Court prescribing technical and other procedural
requirements are meant to weed out unmeritorious petitions that can unnecessarily clog the docket
and needlessly consume the time of the Court. These technical and procedural rules, however, are
intended to help secure, not suppress, substantial justice. A deviation from the rigid enforcement of
the rules may thus be allowed to attain the prime objective for, after all, the dispensation of justice is
the core reason for the existence of courts.

2. CIVIL LAW; OBLIGATIONS AND CONTRACTS; CONTRACTS OF SECURITY,

CONSTRUED. — Contracts of security are either personal or real. In contracts of personal security,
such as a guaranty or a suretyship, the faithful performance of the obligation by the principal debtor
is secured by the personal commitment of another (the guarantor or surety). In contracts of real
security, such as a pledge, a mortgage or an antichresis, that fulfillment is secured by an
encumbrance of property — in pledge, the placing of movable property in the possession of the
creditor; in chattel mortgage, by the execution of the corresponding deed substantially in the form
prescribed by law; in real estate mortgage, by the execution of a public instrument encumbering the
real property covered thereby; and in antichresis, by a written instrument granting to the creditor the
right to receive the fruits of an immovable property with the obligation to apply such fruits to the
payment of interest, if owing, and thereafter to the principal of his credit — upon the essential
condition that if the principal obligation becomes due and the debtor defaults, then the property
encumbered can be alienated for the payment of the obligation, but that should the obligation be duly
paid, then the contract is automatically extinguished proceeding from the accessory character of the
agreement. As the law so puts it, once the obligation is complied with, then the contract of security
becomes, ipso facto, null and void.

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3. ID.; ID.; CONTRACTS OF SECURITY; CHATTEL MORTGAGE; COVERS OBLIGATION

EXISTING AT TIME MORTGAGE IS CONSTITUTED; EFFECT OF PROMISE TO INCLUDE
DEBTS THAT ARE TO BE CONTRACTED. — While a pledge, real estate mortgage, or antichresis
may exceptionally secure after-incurred obligations so long as these future debts are accurately
described, a chattel mortgage, however, can only cover obligations existing at the time the mortgage
is constituted. Although a promise expressed in a chattel mortgage to include debts that are yet to be
contracted can be a binding commitment that can be compelled upon, the security itself, however,
does not come into existence or arise until after a chattel mortgage agreement covering the newly
contracted debt is executed either by concluding a fresh chattel mortgage or by amending the old
contract conformably with the form prescribed by the Chattel Mortgage Law. Refusal on the part of
the borrower to execute the agreement so as to cover the after-incurred obligation can constitute an
act of default on the part of the borrower of the financing agreement whereon the promise is written
but, of course, the remedy of foreclosure can only cover the debts extant at the time of constitution
and during the life of the chattel mortgage sought to be foreclosed. In the chattel mortgage here
involved, the only obligation specified in the chattel mortgage contract was the P3,000,000.00 loan
which petitioner corporation later fully paid. By virtue of Section 3 of the Chattel Mortgage Law, the
payment of the obligation automatically rendered the chattel mortgage void or terminated. (Belgian
Catholic Missionaries, Inc., vs. Magallanes Press, Inc., et al.) The significance of the ruling to the
instant problem would be that since the 1978 chattel mortgage had ceased to exist coincidentally
with the full payment of the P3,000,000.00 loan, there no longer was any chattel mortgage that could
cover the new loans that were concluded thereafter.

4. ID.; CHATTEL MORTGAGE LAW; EXECUTION OF AFFIDAVIT OF GOOD FAITH, A

CLEAR MANIFESTATION THAT DEBT REFERRED TO IS CURRENT. — A chattel mortgage,
as hereinbefore so intimated, must comply substantially with the form prescribed by the Chattel
Mortgage Law itself. One of the requisites, under Section 5 thereof, is an affidavit of good faith.
While it is not doubted that if such an affidavit is not appended to the agreement, the chattel
mortgage would still be valid between the parties (not against third persons acting in good faith), the
fact, however, that the statute has provided that the parties to the contract must execute an oath
makes it obvious that the debt referred to in the law is a current, not an obligation that is yet merely
contemplated.

5. ID.; DAMAGES; MORAL DAMAGES; NOT RECOVERABLE BY A JURIDICAL PERSON.

— We find no merit in petitioner corporation's other prayer that the case should be remanded to the
trial court for a specific finding on the amount of damages it has sustained "as a result of the
unlawful action taken by respondent bank against it." This prayer is not reflected in its complaint
which has merely asked for the amount of P3,000,000.00 by way of moral damages. In LBC Express,
Inc. vs. Court of Appeals, we have said: "Moral damages are granted in recompense for physical
suffering, mental anguish, fright, serious anxiety, besmirched reputation, wounded feelings, moral
shock, social humiliation, and similar injury. A corporation, being an artificial person and having
existence only in legal contemplation, has no feelings, no emotions, no senses; therefore, it cannot
experience physical suffering and mental anguish. Mental suffering can be experienced only be one
having a nervous system and it flows from real ills, sorrows, and griefs of life — all of which cannot
be suffered by respondent bank as an artificial person." While Chua Pac is included in the case, the
complaint, however, clearly states that he has merely been so named as a party in representation of

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petitioner corporation.

6. LEGAL ETHICS; ATTORNEYS; SHOULD BE CIRCUMSPECT IN DEALING WITH

COURTS. — Petitioner corporation's counsel could be commended for his zeal in pursuing his
client's cause. It instead turned out to be, however, a source of disappointment for this Court to read
in petitioner's reply to private respondent's comment on the petition his so-called "One Final Word;"
viz: "In simply quoting in toto the patently erroneous decision of the trial court, respondent Court of
Appeals should be required to justify its decision which completely disregarded the basic laws on
obligations and contracts, as well as the clear provisions of the Chattel Mortgage Law and
well-settled jurisprudence of this Honorable Court; that in the event that its explanation is wholly
unacceptable, this Honorable Court should impose appropriate sanctions on the erring justices. This
is one positive step in ridding our courts of law of incompetent and dishonest magistrates especially
members of a superior court of appellate jurisdiction. The statement is not called for. The Court
invites counsel's attention to the admonition in Guerrero vs. Villamor; thus: "(L)awyers . . . should
bear in mind their basic duty 'to observe and maintain the respect due to the courts of justice and
judical officers and . . . (to) insist on similar conduct by others.' This respectful attitude towards the
court is to be observed, 'not for the sake of the temporary incumbent of the judical office, but for the
maintenance of its supreme importance.' And it is 'through a scrupulous preference for respectful
language that a lawyer best demonstrates his observance of the respect due to the courts and judicial
officers . . .'" The virtues of humility and of respect and concern for others must still live on even in
an age of materialism. Atty. Francisco R. Sotto, counsel for petitioners, is admonished to be
circumspect in dealing with the courts.

DECISION

VITUG, J : p

Would it be valid and effective to have a clause in a chattel mortgage that purports to likewise extend
its coverage to obligations yet to be contracted or incurred? This question is the core issue in the
instant petition for review on certiorari.

Petitioner Chua Pac, the president and general manager of co-petitioner "Acme Shoe, Rubber &
Plastic Corporation," executed on 27 June 1978, for and in behalf of the company, a chattel mortgage
in favor of private respondent Producers Bank of the Philippines. The mortgage stood by way of
security for petitioner's corporate loan of three million pesos (P3,000,000.00). A provision in the
chattel mortgage agreement was to this effect —

"(c) If the MORTGAGOR, his heirs, executors or administrators shall well and truly perform
the full obligation or obligations above-stated according to the terms thereof, then this
mortgage shall be null and void. . . .

"In case the MORTGAGOR executes subsequent promissory note or notes either as a
renewal of the former note, as an extension thereof, or as a new loan, or is given any other
kind of accommodations such as overdrafts, letters of credit, acceptances and bills of

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exchange, releases of import shipments on Trust Receipts, etc., this mortgage shall also
stand as security for the payment of the said promissory note or notes and/or
accommodations without the necessity of executing a new contract and this mortgage shall
have the same force and effect as if the said promissory note or notes and/or
accommodations were existing on the date thereof. This mortgage shall also stand as
security for said obligations and any and all other obligations of the MORTGAGOR to the
MORTGAGEE of whatever kind and nature, whether such obligations have been contracted
before, during or after the constitution of this mortgage." 1

In due time, the loan of P3,000,000.00 was paid by petitioner corporation. Subsequently, in 1981, it
obtained from respondent bank additional financial accommodations totalling P2,700,000.00. 2
These borrowings were on due date also fully paid.

On 10 and 11 January 1984, the bank yet again extended to petitioner corporation a loan of one
million pesos (P1,000,000.00) covered by four promissory notes for P250,000.00 each. Due to
financial constraints, the loan was not settled at maturity. 3 Respondent bank thereupon applied for
an extrajudicial foreclosure of the chattel mortgage, hereinbefore cited, with the Sheriff of Caloocan
City, prompting petitioner corporation to forthwith file an action for injunction, with damages and a
prayer for a writ of preliminary injunction, before the Regional Trial Court of Caloocan City (Civil
Case No. C-12081). Ultimately, the court dismissed the complaint and ordered the foreclosure of the
chattel mortgage. It held petitioner corporation bound by the stipulations, aforequoted, of the chattel
mortgage.

Petitioner corporation appealed to the Court of Appeals 4 which, on 14 August 1991, affirmed, "in
all respects," the decision of the court a quo. The motion for reconsideration was denied on 24
January 1992.

The instant petition interposed by petitioner corporation was initially denied on 04 March 1992 by
this Court for having been insufficient in form and substance. Private respondent filed a motion to
dismiss the petition while petitioner corporation filed a compliance and an opposition to private
respondent's motion to dismiss. The Court denied petitioner's first motion for reconsideration but
granted a second motion for reconsideration, thereby reinstating the petition and requiring private
respondent to comment thereon. 5

Except in criminal cases where the penalty of reclusion perpetua or death is imposed 6 which the
Court so reviews as a matter of course, an appeal from judgments of lower courts is not a matter of
right but of sound judicial discretion. The circulars of the Court prescribing technical and other
procedural requirements are meant to weed out unmeritorious petitions that can unnecessarily clog
the docket and needlessly consume the time of the Court. These technical and procedural rules,
however, are intended to help secure, not suppress, substantial justice. A deviation from the rigid
enforcement of the rules may thus be allowed to attain the prime objective for, after all, the
dispensation of justice is the core reason for the existence of courts. In this instance, once again, the
Court is constrained to relax the rules in order to give way to and uphold the paramount and
overriding interest of justice.

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Contracts of security are either personal or real. In contracts of personal security, such as a guaranty
or a suretyship, the faithful performance of the obligation by the principal debtor is secured by the
personal commitment of another (the guarantor or surety). In contracts of real security, such as a
pledge, a mortgage or an antichresis, that fulfillment is secured by an encumbrance of property — in
pledge, the placing of movable property in the possession of the creditor; in chattel mortgage, by the
execution of the corresponding deed substantially in the form prescribed by law; in real estate
mortgage, by the execution of a public instrument encumbering the real property covered thereby;
and in antichresis, by a written instrument granting to the creditor the right to receive the fruits of an
immovable property with the obligation to apply such fruits to the payment of interest, if owing, and
thereafter to the principal of his credit — upon the essential condition that if the principal obligation
becomes due and the debtor defaults, then the property encumbered can be alienated for the payment
of the obligation, 7 but that should the obligation be duly paid, then the contract is automatically
extinguished proceeding from the accessory character 8 of the agreement. As the law so puts it, once
the obligation is complied with, then the contract of security becomes, ipso facto, null and void. 9

While a pledge, real estate mortgage, or antichresis may exceptionally secure after-incurred
obligations so long as these future debts are accurately described, 10 a chattel mortgage, however,
can only cover obligations existing at the time the mortgage is constituted. Although a promise
expressed in a chattel mortgage to include debts that are yet to be contracted can be a binding
commitment that can be compelled upon, the security itself, however, does not come into existence
or arise until after a chattel mortgage agreement covering the newly contracted debt is executed
either by concluding a fresh chattel mortgage or by amending the old contract conformably with the
form prescribed by the Chattel Mortgage Law. 11 Refusal on the part of the borrower to execute the
agreement so as to cover the after-incurred obligation can constitute an act of default on the part of
the borrower of the financing agreement whereon the promise is written but, of course, the remedy of
foreclosure can only cover the debts extant at the time of constitution and during the life of the
chattel mortgage sought to be foreclosed.

A chattel mortgage, as hereinbefore so intimated, must comply substantially with the form prescribed
by the Chattel Mortgage Law itself. One of the requisites, under Section 5 thereof, is an affidavit of
good faith. While it is not doubted that if such an affidavit is not appended to the agreement, the
chattel mortgage would still be valid between the parties (not against third persons acting in good
faith 12 ), the fact, however, that the statute has provided that the parties to the contract must execute
an oath that —

". . . (the) mortgage is made for the purpose of securing the obligation specified in the
conditions thereof, and for no other purpose, and that the same is a just and valid obligation,
and one not entered into for the purpose of fraud." 13

makes it obvious that the debt referred to in the law is a current, not an obligation that is yet
merely contemplated. In the chattel mortgage here involved, the only obligation specified in the
chattel mortgage contract was the P3,000,000.00 loan which petitioner corporation later fully
paid. By virtue of Section 3 of the Chattel Mortgage Law, the payment of the obligation
automatically rendered the chattel mortgage void or terminated. In Belgian Catholic
Missionaries, Inc., vs. Magallanes Press, Inc., et al., 14 the Court said—

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". . . A mortgage that contains a stipulation in regard to future advances in the credit will
take effect only from the date the same are made and not from the date of the mortgage." 15

The significance of the ruling to the instant problem would be that since the 1978 chattel mortgage
had ceased to exist coincidentally with the full payment of the P3,000,000.00 loan, 16 there no
longer was any chattel mortgage that could cover the new loans that were concluded thereafter.

We find no merit in petitioner corporation's other prayer that the case should be remanded to the
trial court for a specific finding on the amount of damages it has sustained "as a result of the
unlawful action taken by respondent bank against it." 17 This prayer is not reflected in its
complaint which has merely asked for the amount of P3,000,000.00 by way of moral damages.
18 In LBC Express, Inc. vs. Court of Appeals, 19 we have said:

"Moral damages are granted in recompense for physical suffering, mental anguish, fright,
serious anxiety, besmirched reputation, wounded feelings, moral shock, social humiliation,
and similar injury. A corporation, being an artificial person and having existence only in
legal contemplation, has no feelings, no emotions, no senses; therefore, it cannot experience
physical suffering and mental anguish. Mental suffering can be experienced only by one
having a nervous system and it flows from real ills, sorrows, and griefs of life — all of
which cannot be suffered by respondent bank as an artificial person." 20

While Chua Pac is included in the case, the complaint, however, clearly states that he has merely
been so named as a party in representation of petitioner corporation.

Petitioner corporation's counsel could be commended for his zeal in pursuing his client's cause. It
instead turned out to be, however, a source of disappointment for this Court to read in petitioner's
reply to private respondent's comment on the petition his so-called "One Final Word;" viz:

"In simply quoting in toto the patently erroneous decision of the trial court, respondent Court
of Appeals should be required to justify its decision which completely disregarded the basic
laws on obligations and contracts, as well as the clear provisions of the Chattel Mortgage
Law and well-settled jurisprudence of this Honorable Court; that in the event that its
explanation is wholly unacceptable, this Honorable Court should impose appropriate
sanctions on the erring justices. This is one positive step in ridding our courts of law of
incompetent and dishonest magistrates especially members of a superior court of appellate
jurisdiction." 21 (Emphasis supplied.)

The statement is not called for. The Court invites counsel's attention to the admonition in Guerrero
vs. Villamor; 22 thus:

"(L)awyers . . . should bear in mind their basic duty 'to observe and maintain the respect due
to the courts of justice and judicial officers and . . . (to) insist on similar conduct by others.'
This respectful attitude towards the court is to be observed, 'not for the sake of the temporary
incumbent of the judicial office, but for the maintenance of its supreme importance.' And it
is 'through a scrupulous preference for respectful language that a lawyer best demonstrates
his observance of the respect due to the courts and judicial officers . . ..'" 23

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The virtues of humility and of respect and concern for others must still live on even in an age of
materialism.

WHEREFORE, the questioned decisions of the appellate court and the lower court are set aside
without prejudice to the appropriate legal recourse by private respondent as may still be warranted as
an unsecured creditor. No costs.

Atty. Francisco R. Sotto, counsel for petitioners, is admonished to be circumspect in dealing with the
courts.

SO ORDERED.

Kapunan and Hermosisima, Jr., JJ ., concur.

Padilla, J ., took no part.

Bellosillo, J ., is on leave.

Footnotes

1.Rollo, p. 45.

2.Ibid., p. 34.

3.Ibid.

4.Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares Santiago, ponente, with Associate Justices Ricardo L. Pronove, Jr. and
Nicolas P. Lapeña, Jr., concurring.

5.In the Court's resolution, dated 27 May 1992, Rollo, p. 91.

6.Sec. 5 (2)(d), Art. VIII, 1987 Constitution.

7.See Arts. 2085, 2087, 2093, 2125, 2126, 2132, 2139 and 2140, Civil Code.

8.See Manila Surety & Fidelity Co. vs. Velayo, 21 SCRA 515.

9.See Sec. 3, Act 1508.

10.See Mojica vs. Court of Appeals, 201 SCRA 517; Lim Julian vs. Lutero, 49 Phil. 703.

11.Act No. 1508.

12.See Philippine Refining Co. vs. Jarque, 61 Phil. 229.

13.Civil Code, Vol. 3, 1990 Edition by Ramon C. Aquino and Carolina C. Griño-Aquino, pp. 610-611.

14.49 Phil. 647.

15.At p. 655. This ruling was reiterated in Jaca vs. Davao Lumber Company, 113 SCRA 107.

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16.Being merely accessory in nature, it cannot exist independently of the principal obligation.

17.Petitioner's Memorandum, p. 5; Rollo, p. 119.

18.Complaint, p. 6; Record, p. 9.

19.236 SCRA 602.

20.At p. 607.

21.Rollo, p. 113.

22.179 SCRA 355, 362.

23.At p. 362.

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