BAMBALAN v MARAMBA

FACTS:
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.