This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2013-03-20 |
PERALTA, J. |
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| Indeed, the Court agrees with the CA in not giving credence to petitioners' contention in their Answer filed with the RTC that respondent offered to transfer ownership of the subject property in their name as payment for her outstanding obligation. As this Court has held, all persons in need of money are liable to enter into contractual relationships whatever the condition if only to alleviate their financial burden albeit temporarily.[33] Hence, courts are duty-bound to exercise caution in the interpretation and resolution of contracts lest the lenders devour the borrowers like vultures do with their prey.[34] Aside from this aforementioned reason, the Court cannot fathom why respondent would agree to transfer ownership of the subject property, whose value is much higher than her outstanding obligation to petitioners. Considering that the disputed property was mortgaged to secure the payment of her obligation, the most logical and practical thing that she could have done, if she is unable to pay her debt, is to wait for it to be foreclosed. She stands to lose less of the value of the subject property if the same is foreclosed, rather than if the title thereto is directly transferred to petitioners. This is so because in foreclosure, unlike in the present case where ownership of the property was assigned to petitioners, respondent can still claim the balance from the proceeds of the foreclosure sale, if there be any. In such a case, she could still recover a portion of the value of the subject property rather than losing it completely by assigning its ownership to petitioners. | |||||