Haystack: Sibal v. Valdez (GR 26278, 4 August 1927)

Sibal v. Valdez
[G.R. No. 26278. August 4, 1927.]
Second Division, Johnson (J): 5 concur

Facts: On 11 May 1923, the deputy-sheriff of the Province of Tarlac, by virtue of a writ of execution in civil case 20203 of the CFI Manila (Macondray & Co., Inc. vs. Leon Sibal), levied an attachment on Leon Sibal’s 8 parcels of land for the sum of P4,273.93. 2 months later, or on 30 July 1923, Macondray & Co., Inc., bought said parcels of land, at the auction held by the sheriff of the Province of Tarlac. Within 1 year from the sale of said parcels of land, or on 24 September 1923, Sibal paid P2,000 to Macondray for the account of the redemption price of said parcels of land, without specifying which said amount was to be applied. The redemption price of the parcels was reduced to P2,579.97 including interest.

On 29 April 1924, the deputy sheriff of the Province of Tarlac, by virtue of a writ of execution in civil case 1301 of the Province of Pampanga (Emiliano J. Valdez vs. Leon Sibal 1.º), attached the personal property of Sibal located in Tarlac, among which was included the sugar cane in question in the 7 parcels of land described in the complaint. He also attached Sibal’s real property in Tarlac, including rights, interest and participation therein, which consists of 11 parcels of land and a house and camarin situated in one of said parcels. On 9-10 May 1924, the deputy sheriff sold at public auction said personal properties to Emiliano J. Valdez, who paid therefor the sum of P1,550, of which P600 was for the sugar cane. On 25 June 1924, 8 of the 11 parcels, including the camarin and the house were bought by Valdez at the auction held by the sheriff for the sum of P12,200. The 3 remaining parcels were released from attachment by virtue of claims presented by Cayugan and Tizon. On the same date, Macondray sold and conveyed to Valdez for P2,579.97 all of its rights and interest in the 8 parcels of land acquired by it in connection with civil case 20203 of the CFI Manila.

On 14 December 1924, action was commenced in the CFI of the Province of Tarlac. The plaintiff alleged that the deputy sheriff of Tarlac Province attached and sold to Valdez the sugar cane planted by the plaintiff and his tenants on 7 parcels of land, and that within 1 year from the date of the attachment and sale the plaintiff ordered to redeem said sugar cane and tendered to Valdez the amount sufficient to cover the price paid by the latter, with taxes and interests, and that Valdez refused to accept the money and return the sugar cane to the plaintiff. After hearing and on 28 April 1926, the judge (Lukban) rendered judgment in favor of the defendant holding that the sugar cane in question was personal property and, as such, was not subject to redemption; among others. Hence, the appeal.

1. Paragraph 2, Article 334 of the Civil Code interpreted by the Tribunal Supremo de Espana as that growing crops may be considered as personal property
Sugar cane may come under the classification of real property as "ungathered products" in paragraph 2 of article 334 of the Civil Code, which enumerates as real property as "Trees, plants, and ungathered products, while they are annexed to the land or form an integral part of any immovable property." That article, however, has received in recent years an interpretation by the Tribunal Supremo de España, which holds that, under certain conditions, growing crops may be considered as personal property. (Decision of March 18, 1904, vol. 97, Civil Jurisprudence of Spain.) Thus, under Spanish authorities, pending fruits and ungathered products may be sold and transferred as personal property. Also, the Supreme Court of Spain, in a case of ejectment of a lessee of an agricultural land, held that the lessee was entitled to gather the Products corresponding to the agricultural year because said fruits did not go with the land but belonged separately to the lessee. And further, under the Spanish Mortgage Law of 1909, as amended, the mortgage of a piece of land does not include the fruits and products existing thereon, unless the contract expressly provides otherwise.

2. Manresa admits growing crops as personal property
Manresa, the eminent commentator of the Spanish Civil Code, in discussing section 334 of the Civil Code, in view of the recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Spain, admits that growing crops are sometimes considered and treated as personal property.

3. Paragraph 2, Article 344 of the Civil Code corresponds to Article 465 of the Civil Code of Louisiana
Article 465 of the Civil Code of Louisiana, which corresponds to paragraph 2 of article 334 of the Civil Code, provides: "Standing crops and the fruits of trees not gathered, and trees before they are cut down, are likewise immovable, and are considered as part of the land to which they are attached."

4. Louisiana jurisprudence: Growing crop’s mobilization by anticipation
Standing crops and the fruits of trees not gathered and trees before they are cut down are considered as part of the land to which they are attached,' but the immovability provided for is only one in abstracto and without reference to rights on or to the crop acquired by others than the owners of the property to which the crop is attached. The existence of a right on the growing crop is a mobilization by anticipation, a gathering as it were in advance, rendering the crop movable quoad the right acquired therein. Jurisprudence recognizes the possible mobilization of the growing crop. (Citizens' Bank vs. Wiltz, 31 La. Ann., 244; Porche vs. Bodin, 28 La. Ann., 761; Sandel vs. Douglass, 27 La. Ann., 629; Lewis vs. Klotz, 39 La. Ann., 267.; as cited in Lumber Co. vs. Sheriff and Tax Collector [106 La., 418], c.f. Citizen’s Bank v. Wiltz [31 La. Ann., 244])

5. Louisiana jurisprudence: Standing crops as immovable or movable based on owned and leased premises; seizure by creditors
Standing crops are considered as immovable and as part of the land to which they are attached, and the fruits of an immovable gathered or produced while it is under seizure are considered as making part thereof, and inure to the benefit of the person making the seizure. But the evident meaning of these articles is, where the crops belong to the owner of the plantation, they form part of the immovable, and where it is seized, the fruits gathered or produced inure to the benefit of the seizing creditor. A crop raised on leased premises in no sense forms part of the immovable. It belongs to the lessee, and may be sold by him, whether it be gathered or not, and it may be sold by his judgment creditors. (Porche vs. Bodin [28 La. An., 761])

6. Louisiana jurisprudence: Law cannot be interpreted result in absurd consequences
If crop necessarily forms part of the leased premises the result would be that it could not be sold under execution separate and apart from the land. If a lessee obtain supplies to make his crop, the factor's lien would not attach to the crop as a separate thing belonging to his debtor, but the land belonging to the lessor would be affected with the recorded privilege. The law cannot be construed so as to result in such absurd consequences.

7. American jurisprudence: growing crops by yearly labor and cultivation personal property
The settled doctrine followed in the State of California and other states in connection with the attachment of property and execution of judgment is, that growing crops raised by yearly labor and cultivation are considered personal property. All annual crops which are raised by yearly manurance and labor, and essentially owe their annual existence to cultivation by man, may be levied on as personal property. Crops, whether growing or standing in the field ready to be harvested, are, when produced by annual cultivation, no part of the realty. They are, therefore, liable to voluntary transfer as chattels. It is equally well settled that they may be seized and sold under execution.

8. Valid sale of a thing not yet in existence; thing must be owned by the vendor
A valid sale may be made of a thing, which though not yet actually in existence, is reasonably certain to come into existence as the natural increment or usual incident of something already in existence, and then belonging to the vendor, and the title will vest in the buyer the moment the thing comes into existence. (Emerson vs. European Railway Co., 67 Me., 387; Cutting vs. Packers Exchange, 21 Am. St. Rep., 63.) The thing sold, however, must be specific and identified. They must be also owned at the time by the vendor. (Hull vs. Hull, 48 Conn., 250 [40 Am. Rep., 165].)

9. Source of provisions on execution of judgment in Code of Civil Procedure (Act 190); Growing crops are personal property
Section 450 and most of the other sections of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to the execution of judgments were taken from the Code of Civil Procedure of California. Section 450 of the Code of Civil Procedure enumerates the property of a judgment debtor which may be subjected to execution, and reads as "All goods, chattels, moneys, and other property, both real and personal, shall be liable to execution." The Supreme Court of California, under section 688 of the Code of Civil Procedure of that state, to which the Code of Civil Procedure was pattered, has held, without variation, that growing crops were personal property and subject to execution.

10. Chattel Mortgage Law recognizes growing crops as personal property
Act 1508, the Chattel Mortgage Law, fully recognizes that growing crops are personal property. Section 2 of said Act provides that "All personal property shall be subject to mortgage, agreeably to the provisions of this Act, and a mortgage executed in pursuance thereof shall be termed a chattel mortgage." Section 7 in part provides that "If growing crops be mortgaged the mortgage may contain an agreement stipulating that the mortgagor binds himself properly to tend. care for and protect the crop while growing." The above provisions of Act 1508 were enacted on the assumption that "growing crops" are personal property.

11. Personal property includes ungathered products; Paragraph 2, Article 334 of the Civil Code modified by Act 190 and 1508
Paragraph 2 of article 334 of the Civil Code has been modified by section 450 of Act No. 190 and by Act No. 1508 in the sense that "ungathered products" as mentioned in said article of the Civil Code have the nature of personal property; or that in the sense that, for the purposes of attachment and execution, and for the purposes of the Chattel Mortgage Law, "ungathered products" have the nature of personal property. In other words, the phrase "personal property" should be understood to include "ungathered products." In the case at bar, the sugar cane in question was personal property and was not subject to redemption.

12. Absence from trial and failure to cross-examine lend weight to the evidence presented by the other party
The absence of the plaintiff from the trial and his failure to cross-examine the defendant have lent considerable weight to the evidence then presented for the defense. The court has been inclined to to give more weight to the evidence adduced by him than to the evidence adduced by the plaintiff, with respect to the ownership of parcels of land.

13. Lack of evidence of bad faith in planting palay in questioned parcels entitles plaintiff to ½ of the crop
There being no evidence of bad faith on the plaintiff’s part, in planting the palay in the disputed parcels of land and harvested therefrom 190 cavans, he is therefore entitled to one-half of the crop, or 95 cavans, not 190 cavans as ordered by the lower court.

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