This case has been cited 1 times or more.
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2015-07-13 |
LEONARDO-DE CASTRO, J. |
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| There was no express undertaking in Mercado's letters dated August 22, 1996 and January 27, 1997 to pay Bienvenida's debt to GGDI in case Bienvenida failed to do so. In said letters, Mercado merely acknowledged that Bienvenida and/or her company had an approved real estate loan with Allied Bank and guaranteed that subsequent releases from the loan would be made directly to GGDI provided that the certificate of title over the subject property would be transferred to Bienvenida's name and the real estate mortgage constituted on the subject property in favor of Allied Bank would be annotated on the said certificate. Mercado, by the plain language of his letters, merely committed to the manner by which the proceeds of Bienvenida's approved loan from Allied Bank would be released, but did not obligate Allied Bank to be answerable with its own money to GGDI should Bienvenida default on the payment of the purchase price for the subject property. For this reason, Mercado's letters may not be deemed as contracts of guaranty, although they may be binding as innominate contracts. The rule is settled that a contract constitutes the law between the parties who are bound by its stipulations which, when couched in clear and plain language, should be applied according to their literal tenor. We cannot supply material stipulations, read into the contract words it does not contain or, for that matter, read into it any other intention that would contradict its plain import. Neither can we rewrite contracts because they operate harshly or inequitably as to one of the parties, or alter them for the benefit of one party and to the detriment of the other, or by construction, relieve one of the parties from the terms which he voluntarily consented to, or impose on him those which he did not.[43] | |||||