BAMBALAN v MARAMBAFACTS:
Bambalans parents Paula Prado and her first husband, Isidro
Bambalan Y Calcotura received a loan from Genoveva Muerong and
German Maramba in 1915. Calcotura died leaving Bambalan as the sole
heir of his estate. In 1922, Muerong and Maramba forced Bambalan,
who was at that time, a minor, to sell their land as payment for
the loan. Bambalan signed, but said that he was forced because they
were threatening his mother with imprisonment. Muerong and Maramba
bought Bambalans first cedula to acknowledge the document.
ISSUE: Whether sale of the land to Maramaba and Muerong is
valid.
RATIO: The sale is void as to the plaintiff, because he was a
minor at the time of execution. The Doctrine laid down in the case
of Mercado vs. Espiritu is not applicable to this case, because the
plaintiff did not pretend to be of age, and the defendant knew him
as a minor.
Important Statutes:
Civil Code, Article 38.
Minority, insanity or imbecility, the state of being a
deaf-mute, prodigality and civil-interdiction are mere restrictions
on the capacity to act, and do not exempt the incapacitated person
from certain obligations, as when the latter arise from his acts or
from property relations, such as easements.
Civil code, Art. 1327.
The following cannot give consent to a contract:
(1) Unemancipated minors; (2) Insane or demented persons, and
deaf-mutes who do not know how to write. (1263a)
Civil code, Art. 1390.
The following contracts are voidable or annullable, even though
there may have been no damage to the contracting parties:
(1) Those where one of the parties is incapable of giving
consent to a contract; (2) Those where the consent is vitiated by
mistake, violence, intimidation, undue influence or fraud.
