Dignos v.

CA
Facts:
In July 1965, herein petitioners Silvestre T. Dignos and Isabela Lumungsod de Dignos (spouses Dignos)
sold their parcel of land in Opon, LapuLapu to herein private respondent Antonio Jabil for the sum of
P28,000 payable for two installments, with an assumption of indebtedness with the First Insular Bank of
Cebu in the sum of P12,000 and the next installment of P4,000 to be paid in September 1965. In
November 1965, the spouses Dignos sold the same parcel of land for P35,000 to defendants Luciano
Cabigas and Jovita L. de Cabigas (spouses Cabigas) who were then US citizens, and executed in their
favor an Absolute Deed of Sale duly registered in the Office of the Register of Deeds.
Upon discovery of the 2nd sale of the subject land, Jabil filed the case at bar in the CFI of Cebu which
rendered its Decision in August 1975 declaring the 2nd sale to the spouses Cabigas null and void ab initio
and the 1st sale to Jabil not rescinded. The CFI of Cebu also ordered Jabil to pay the remaining P16,000
to the spouses Dignos and to reimburse the spouses Cabigas a reasonable amount corresponding the
expenses in the construction of hollow block fences in the said parcel of land. The spouses Dignos were
also ordered to return the P35,000 to the spouses Cabigas.
Both Jabil and the spouses Dignos appealed to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed in July 1981 the CFI
of Cebus Decision except for the part of Jabil paying the expenses of the spouses Cabigas for building a
fence. The spouses Dignos contested that the contract between them and Jabil was merely a contract to
sell and not a deed of sale.
Issue:
Is the contract between the parties a contract of sale or a contract to sell?
Held:
The Supreme Court affirmed the Decision of the Court of Appeals saying stated that all the elements of a
valid contract of sale are present in the document and that the spouses Dignos had no right to sell the land
in question because an actual delivery of its possession has already been made in favor of Jabil as early as
March 1965. It was also found that the spouses Dignos never notified Jabil by notarial act that they were
rescinding the contract, and neither did they file a suit in court to rescind the sale. There is no showing
that Jabil properly authorized a certain Cipriano Amistad to tell petitioners that he was already waiving
his rights to the land in question.