SECTION 2

Obligations with a Period

ARTICLE 1193. Obligations for whose fulfillment a day certain has been fixed, shall be demandable only
when that day comes.

Obligations with a resolutory period take effect at once, but terminate upon arrival of the day certain.

A day certain is understood to be that which must necessarily come, although it may not be known
when.

If the uncertainty consists in whether the day will come or not, the obligation is conditional, and it shall
be regulated by the rules of the preceding Section. (1125a)

ARTICLE 1194. In case of loss, deterioration or improvement of the thing before the arrival of the day
certain, the rules in article 1189 shall be observed. (n)

ARTICLE 1195. Anything paid or delivered before the arrival of the period, the obligor being unaware of
the period or believing that the obligation has become due and demandable, may be recovered, with
the fruits and interests. (1126a)

ARTICLE 1196. Whenever in an obligation a period is designated, it is presumed to have been established
for the benefit of both the creditor and the debtor, unless from the tenor of the same or other
circumstances it should appear that the period has been established in favor of one or of the other.
(1127)

ARTICLE 1197. If the obligation does not fix a period, but from its nature and the circumstances it can be
inferred that a period was intended, the courts may fix the duration thereof.

The courts shall also fix the duration of the period when it depends upon the will of the debtor.
In every case, the courts shall determine such period as may under the circumstances have been
probably contemplated by the parties. Once fixed by the courts, the period cannot be changed by them.
(1128a)

ARTICLE 1198. The debtor shall lose every right to make use of the period:

(1) When after the obligation has been contracted, he becomes insolvent, unless he gives a guaranty or
security for the debt;

(2) When he does not furnish to the creditor the guaranties or securities which he has promised;

(3) When by his own acts he has impaired said guaranties or securities after their establishment, and
when through a fortuitous event they disappear, unless he immediately gives new ones equally
satisfactory;

(4) When the debtor violates any undertaking, in consideration of which the creditor agreed to the
period;

(5) When the debtor attempts to abscond. (1129a)

SECTION 3

Alternative Obligations

ARTICLE 1199. A person alternatively bound by different prestations shall completely perform one of
them.

The creditor cannot be compelled to receive part of one and part of the other undertaking. (1131)

ARTICLE 1200. The right of choice belongs to the debtor, unless it has been expressly granted to the
creditor.
The debtor shall have no right to choose those prestations which are impossible, unlawful or which
could not have been the object of the obligation. (1132)

ARTICLE 1201. The choice shall produce no effect except from the time it has been communicated.
(1133)

ARTICLE 1202. The debtor shall lose the right of choice when among the prestations whereby he is
alternatively bound, only one is practicable. (1134)

ARTICLE 1203. If through the creditor’s acts the debtor cannot make a choice according to the terms of
the obligation, the latter may rescind the contract with damages. (n)

ARTICLE 1204. The creditor shall have a right to indemnity for damages when, through the fault of the
debtor, all the things which are alternatively the object of the obligation have been lost, or the
compliance of the obligation has become impossible.

The indemnity shall be fixed taking as a basis the value of the last thing which disappeared, or that of
the service which last became impossible.

Damages other than the value of the last thing or service may also be awarded. (1135a)

ARTICLE 1205. When the choice has been expressly given to the creditor, the obligation shall cease to be
alternative from the day when the selection has been communicated to the debtor.

Until then the responsibility of the debtor shall be governed by the following rules:

(1) If one of the things is lost through a fortuitous event, he shall perform the obligation by delivering
that which the creditor should choose from among the remainder, or that which remains if only one
subsists;

(2) If the loss of one of the things occurs through the fault of the debtor, the creditor may claim any of
those subsisting, or the price of that which, through the fault of the former, has disappeared, with a
right to damages;
(3) If all the things are lost through the fault of the debtor, the choice by the creditor shall fall upon the
price of any one of them, also with indemnity for damages.

The same rules shall be applied to obligations to do or not to do in case one, some or all of the
prestations should become impossible. (1136a)

ARTICLE 1206. When only one prestation has been agreed upon, but the obligor may render another in
substitution, the obligation is called facultative.

The loss or deterioration of the thing intended as a substitute, through the negligence of the obligor,
does not render him liable. But once the substitution has been made, the obligor is liable for the loss of
the substitute on account of his delay, negligence or fraud. (n)

SECTION 4

Joint and Solidary Obligations

ARTICLE 1207. The concurrence of two or more creditors or of two or more debtors in one and the same
obligation does not imply that each one of the former has a right to demand, or that each one of the
latter is bound to render, entire compliance with the prestation. There is a solidary liability only when
the obligation expressly so states, or when the law or the nature of the obligation requires solidarity.
(1137a)

ARTICLE 1208. If from the law, or the nature or the wording of the obligations to which the preceding
article refers the contrary does not appear, the credit or debt shall be presumed to be divided into as
many shares as there are creditors or debtors, the credits or debts being considered distinct from one
another, subject to the Rules of Court governing the multiplicity of suits. (1138a)

ARTICLE 1209. If the division is impossible, the right of the creditors may be prejudiced only by their
collective acts, and the debt can be enforced only by proceeding against all the debtors. If one of the
latter should be insolvent, the others shall not be liable for his share. (1139)
ARTICLE 1210. The indivisibility of an obligation does not necessarily give rise to solidarity. Nor does
solidarity of itself imply indivisibility. (n)

ARTICLE 1211. Solidarity may exist although the creditors and the debtors may not be bound in the same
manner and by the same periods and conditions. (1140)

ARTICLE 1212. Each one of the solidary creditors may do whatever may be useful to the others, but not
anything which may be prejudicial to the latter. (1141a)

ARTICLE 1213. A solidary creditor cannot assign his rights without the consent of the others. (n)

ARTICLE 1214. The debtor may pay any one of the solidary creditors; but if any demand, judicial or
extrajudicial, has been made by one of them, payment should be made to him. (1142a)

ARTICLE 1215. Novation, compensation, confusion or remission of the debt, made by any of the solidary
creditors or with any of the solidary debtors, shall extinguish the obligation, without prejudice to the
provisions of article 1219.

The creditor who may have executed any of these acts, as well as he who collects the debt, shall be
liable to the others for the share in the obligation corresponding to them. (1143)

ARTICLE 1216. The creditor may proceed against any one of the solidary debtors or some or all of them
simultaneously. The demand made against one of them shall not be an obstacle to those which may
subsequently be directed against the others, so long as the debt has not been fully collected. (1144a)

ARTICLE 1217. Payment made by one of the solidary debtors extinguishes the obligation. If two or more
solidary debtors offer to pay, the creditor may choose which offer to accept.

He who made the payment may claim from his co-debtors only the share which corresponds to each,
with the interest for the payment already made. If the payment is made before the debt is due, no
interest for the intervening period may be demanded.
When one of the solidary debtors cannot, because of his insolvency, reimburse his share to the debtor
paying the obligation, such share shall be borne by all his co-debtors, in proportion to the debt of each.
(1145a)

ARTICLE 1218. Payment by a solidary debtor shall not entitle him to reimbursement from his co-debtors
if such payment is made after the obligation has prescribed or become illegal. (n)

ARTICLE 1219. The remission made by the creditor of the share which affects one of the solidary debtors
does not release the latter from his responsibility towards the co-debtors, in case the debt had been
totally paid by anyone of them before the remission was effected. (1146a)

ARTICLE 1220. The remission of the whole obligation, obtained by one of the solidary debtors, does not
entitle him to reimbursement from his co-debtors. (n)

ARTICLE 1221. If the thing has been lost or if the prestation has become impossible without the fault of
the solidary debtors, the obligation shall be extinguished.

If there was fault on the part of any one of them, all shall be responsible to the creditor, for the price
and the payment of damages and interest, without prejudice to their action against the guilty or
negligent debtor.

If through a fortuitous event, the thing is lost or the performance has become impossible after one of
the solidary debtors has incurred in delay through the judicial or extrajudicial demand upon him by the
creditor, the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply. (1147a)

ARTICLE 1222. A solidary debtor may, in actions filed by the creditor, avail himself of all defenses which
are derived from the nature of the obligation and of those which are personal to him, or pertain to his
own share. With respect to those which personally belong to the others, he may avail himself thereof
only as regards that part of the debt for which the latter are responsible. (1148a)

SECTION 5

Divisible and Indivisible Obligations

ARTICLE 1224. A joint indivisible obligation gives rise to indemnity for damages from the time anyone of
the debtors does not comply with his undertaking. The debtors who may have been ready to fulfill their
promises shall not contribute to the indemnity beyond the corresponding portion of the price of the
thing or of the value of the service in which the obligation consists. (1150)

ARTICLE 1225. For the purposes of the preceding articles, obligations to give definite things and those
which are not susceptible of partial performance shall be deemed to be indivisible.

When the obligation has for its object the execution of a certain number of days of work, the
accomplishment of work by metrical units, or analogous things which by their nature are susceptible of
partial performance, it shall be divisible.

However, even though the object or service may be physically divisible, an obligation is indivisible if so
provided by law or intended by the parties.

In obligations not to do, divisibility or indivisibility shall be determined by the character of the prestation
in each particular case. (1151a)

SECTION 6

Obligations with a Penal Clause

ARTICLE 1226. In obligations with a penal clause, the penalty shall substitute the indemnity for damages
and the payment of interests in case of noncompliance, if there is no stipulation to the contrary.
Nevertheless, damages shall be paid if the obligor refuses to pay the penalty or is guilty of fraud in the
fulfillment of the obligation.

The penalty may be enforced only when it is demandable in accordance with the provisions of this Code.
(1152a)
ARTICLE 1227. The debtor cannot exempt himself from the performance of the obligation by paying the
penalty, save in the case where this right has been expressly reserved for him. Neither can the creditor
demand the fulfillment of the obligation and the satisfaction of the penalty at the same time, unless this
right has been clearly granted him. However, if after the creditor has decided to require the fulfillment
of the obligation, the performance thereof should become impossible without his fault, the penalty may
be enforced. (1153a)

ARTICLE 1228. Proof of actual damages suffered by the creditor is not necessary in order that the
penalty may be demanded. (n)

ARTICLE 1229. The judge shall equitably reduce the penalty when the principal obligation has been
partly or irregularly complied with by the debtor. Even if there has been no performance, the penalty
may also be reduced by the courts if it is iniquitous or unconscionable. (1154a)

ARTICLE 1230. The nullity of the penal clause does not carry with it that of the principal obligation.

The nullity of the principal obligation carries with it that of the penal clause. (1155)