Legal Opinion

Defenses for the Defendant Ejectment Case

1. Action for Specific Performance for failure to perform a reciprocal
obligation by not delivering to the defendant his just share of the
proceeds of the Germilina trees, which the plaintiff has mutually
agreed to deliver if the Germilina trees are sold.
In this case, there was a reciprocal obligation from the parties when they
mutually agreed - as for the defendant - to plant and take care of the trees and as
for the plaintiff to give to defendant his just share of the proceeds for such trees.
The plaintiffs share of the proceeds is a demandable and enforceable obligation,
thus should be delivered to him.
Reciprocal obligations are those which arise from the same cause, and which
each party is a debtor and a creditor of the other, such that the obligation of one is
dependent upon the obligation of the other. They are to be performed
simultaneously, so that the performance of one is conditioned upon the
simultaneous fulfillment of the other (Doctrine: Asuncion v. Evangelista, 375 Phil.
328, 356 (1999)).
Art. 1169. Those obliged to deliver or to do something incur in delay from the time
the obligee judicially or extrajudicially demands from them the fulfillment of their
obligation.
However, the demand by the creditor shall not be necessary in order that delay may
exist:
(1) When the obligation or the law expressly so declare; or
(2) When from the nature and the circumstances of the obligation it appears that
the designation of the time when the thing is to be delivered or the service is to be
rendered was a controlling motive for the establishment of the contract; or
(3) When demand would be useless, as when the obligor has rendered it beyond his
power to perform.
In reciprocal obligations, neither party incurs in delay if the other does not comply
or is not ready to comply in a proper manner with what is incumbent upon him.
From the moment one of the parties fulfills his obligation, delay by the other begins.
(1100a)
Art. 1423. Obligations are civil or natural. Civil obligations give a right of action to
compel their performance. Natural obligations, not being based on positive law but
on equity and natural law, do not grant a right of action to enforce their
performance, but after voluntary fulfillment by the obligor, they authorize the

retention of what has been delivered or rendered by reason thereof. Some natural
obligations are set forth in the following articles.
In another way, it can also be argued that there was a contract between
the plaintiff and the defendant. Thus, the reciprocal obligation arose from
the bilateral contract between the parties.
In this case the contract was perfected by the meeting of the minds between
both parties, when the plaintiff agreed to let defendant live on the land provided
that the latter will plant Germilina Trees, and in return plaintiff will share to
defendants a portion of the proceeds for the sale of such trees. The first fraction of
the contract which is allowing the defendant to live if the latter plants trees had no
issue since it has fulfilled by both. Yet another consideration was imposed in the
planting and taking care of the Germilina Trees, which is the delivery of the share of
proceeds to if such are sold. The plaintiff has breached the contract by not
delivering the share of the proceeds to plaintiff, which they have both agreed.
ART. 1315. Contracts are perfected by mere consent, and from that moment the
parties are bound not only to the fulfillment of what has been expressly stipulated
but also to all the consequences which, according to their nature, may be in keeping
with good faith, usage and law. (Emphasis supplied)
ART. 1356. Contracts shall be obligatory in whatever form they may have been
entered into, provided all the essential requisites for their validity are present....
(Emphasis supplied)
2. That the defendant should not be ousted from the lot in question
until fulfillment of the plaintiffs obligation, which is to deliver the
agreed just share of the proceeds of the Germilina trees.
Concept of Mortgage by Legal Charge (American Jurisprudence)
A charge by deed expressed to be by way of legal mortgage", the debtor remains
the legal owner of the property, but the creditor gains sufficient rights over it to
enable them to enforce their security, such as a right to take possession of the
property or sell it.
Art. 1177, Civil Code of the Philippines: The creditors, after having pursued the
property in possession of the debtor to satisfy their claims, may exercise all the
rights and bring all the actions of the latter for the same purpose, save those which
are inherent in his person; they may also impugn the acts which the debtor may
have done to defraud them. (1111)
Other related legal basis:
Art. 1159. Obligations arising from contracts have the force of law between the
contracting parties and should be complied with in good faith. (1091a)

Art. 2142. Certain lawful, voluntary and unilateral acts give rise to the juridical
relation of quasi-contract to the end that no one shall be unjustly enriched or
benefited at the expense of another. (n)
Art. 19: Every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the performance of
his duties, act with justice, give everyone his due and observe honesty and good
faith.