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Florentino v. PNB, 98 Phil. 959 (1956)

This document summarizes a court case between Marcelino B. Florentino and the Philippine National Bank. Florentino filed a petition for mandamus to compel the bank to accept his backpay certificate from the government to pay an outstanding debt of 6,800 pesos. The key issue was whether the qualifying clause "who may be willing to accept the same" referred to all antecedents including the government or just the last antecedent of private citizens and corporations. The court ruled the clause referred only to the last antecedent based on grammatical structure and to avoid finding the law unconstitutional. It ordered the bank to accept Florentino's backpay certificate to settle his debt without interest from the date it was

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Judy Anne Ramirez
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121 views2 pages

Florentino v. PNB, 98 Phil. 959 (1956)

This document summarizes a court case between Marcelino B. Florentino and the Philippine National Bank. Florentino filed a petition for mandamus to compel the bank to accept his backpay certificate from the government to pay an outstanding debt of 6,800 pesos. The key issue was whether the qualifying clause "who may be willing to accept the same" referred to all antecedents including the government or just the last antecedent of private citizens and corporations. The court ruled the clause referred only to the last antecedent based on grammatical structure and to avoid finding the law unconstitutional. It ordered the bank to accept Florentino's backpay certificate to settle his debt without interest from the date it was

Uploaded by

Judy Anne Ramirez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MARCELINO B. FLORENTINO and LOURDES T. ZANDUETA, petitioners-appellants, vs.

PHILIPPINE
NATIONAL BANK, respondent-appellee

Facts
 The petitioners and appellants filed with the Court of First Instance of La Union a petition for
mandamus against respondent and appellee, Philippine National Bank, to compel it to accept the
backpay certificate of petitioner Marcelino B. Florentino issued to him by the Republic of the
Philippines, to pay an indebtedness to the Philippine National Bank in the sum of P6,800 secured
by real estate mortgage on certain properties.

Issue
 Whether the clause "who may be willing to accept the same for settlement" refers to all
antecedents "the Government, any of its branches or instrumentalities, the corporations owned or
controlled by the Government, etc.," or only the last antecedent "any citizen of the Philippines, or
any association or corporation organized under the laws of the Philippines.

Ruling
 The contention of the respondent-appellee, Philippine National Bank is that qualifying clause
refers to all the antecedents, whereas the appellant's contention is that it refers only to the last
antecedent.

SEC. 2. RA 304 amended by RA 800. The Treasurer of the Philippines shall, upon application of all
persons specified in section one hereof and within one year from the approval of this Act, and under such
rules and regulations as may be promulgated by the Secretary of Finance, acknowledge and file requests
for the recognition of the right of the salaries or wages as provided in section one hereof, and notice of
such acknowledgment shall be issued to the applicant which shall state the total amount of such salaries
or wages due the applicant, and certify that it shall be redeemed by the Government of the Philippines
within ten years from the date of their issuance without interest: Provided, That upon application and
subject to such rules and regulations as may be approved by the Secretary of Finance a certificate of
indebtedness may be issued by the Treasurer of the Philippines covering the whole or a part of the total
salaries or wages the right to which has been duly acknowledged and recognized, provided that the face
value of such certificate of indebtedness shall not exceed the amount that the applicant may need for the
payment of (1) obligations subsisting at the time of the approval of this amendatory Act for which the
applicant may directly be liable to the Government or to any of its branches or instrumentalities, or the
corporations owned or control by the Government, or to any citizen of the Philippines, or to any
association or corporation organized under the laws of the Philippines, who may be willing to accept the
same for such settlement.

Grammatically, the qualifying clause refers only to the last antecedent; that is, "any citizen of the
Philippines or any association or corporation organized under the laws of the Philippines." It should be
noted that there is a comma before the words "or to any citizen, etc.," which separates said phrase from
the preceding ones.

In the first place, to make the acceptance of the backpay certificates obligatory upon any citizen,
association, or corporation, which are not government entities or owned or controlled by the government,
would render section 2 of Republic Act No. 897 unconstitutional, for it would amount to an impairment of
the obligation of contracts by compelling private creditors to accept a sort of promissory note payable
within ten years with interest at a rate very much lower than the current or even the legal one.

The Secretary of Justice, in his Opinion No. 226, series of 1948, held that the phrase "who may be willing
to accept the same for such settlement" qualifies only its immediate antecedent and does not apply to the
Government or its agencies.

Marcelino B. Florentino incurred his debt to the Philippine National Bank on January 2, 1953; the
obligation was subsisting when the Amendatory Act No. 897 was approved. The decision appealed from
is reversed, and the appellee is ordered to accept the backpay certificate above mentioned of the
appellant, Marcelino B. Florentino, in payment of his debt to the appellee, without interest from December
27, 1953, the date when he offered said backpay certificate in payment. Without pronouncement as to
costs. It is ordered.

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