Philippine Supreme Court Resolutions

G.R. No. 172879^[*] (Atty. Ricardco B. Bermudo v. Fermina Tayag-Roxas); G.R. No. 173364 (Fermina Tayag-Roxas v. Court of Appeals and Atty. Ricardo B. Bermudo).

For resolution of the Court is Fermina Tayag-Roxas' Motion for Clarification of the Court's Decision dated February 2, 2011, which affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeals (CA) in favor of Atty. Ricardo Bermudo but modified it by ordering Roxas to pay Bermudo P4,234,770.00 as attorney's fees with an interest rate of 6% per annum. Roxas then sought clarification on the accrual of the 6% interest, which was not mentioned in the Court's Decision.

The motion is meritorious. The case of Eastern Shipping Lines, Inc. v. Court of Appeals^[1] on payment of interest applies: 

x x x x 

2. When an obligation, not constituting a loan or forbearance of money, is breached, an interest on the amount of damages awarded may be imposed at the discretion of the court at the rate of 6% per annum, x x x. Accordingly, where the demand is established with reasonable certainty, the interest shall begin to run from the time the claim is made judicially or extrajudicially (Art. 1169, Civil Code) but when such certainty cannot be so reasonably established at the time the demand is made, the interest shall begin to run only from the date the judgment of the court is made (at which time the quantification of damages may be deemed to have been reasonably ascertained). The actual base for the computation of legal interest shall, in any case, be on the amount finally adjudged. 

3. When the judgment of the court awarding a sum of money becomes final and executory, the rate of legal interest, whether the case falls under paragraph 1 or paragraph 2, above, shall be 12% per annum from such finality until its satisfaction, this interim period being deemed to be by then an equivalent to a forbearance of credit.^[2]

The interest on obligations not constituting a loan or forbearance of money is 6% per annum computed from the time of demand. Where the demand, however, is not established with reasonable certainty, the interest shall begin to run only from the date the judgment of the court is made. Here, Bermudo's demand cannot be considered as having been established with certainty as the amount of his legal fees was only ascertained at the time of the CA's Decision on December 19, 2005. But when the judgment of a court awarding a sum of money becomes final and executory, the rate shall be 12% per annum from such finality until its satisfaction, being deemed to be equivalent to a forbearance of credit.

WHEREFORE, the Court resolves to GRANT Fermina Tayag-Roxas' Motion for Clarification and AMENDS the dispositive portion of its February 2, 2011 Decision to read: 

"WHEREFORE, the Court AFFIRMS the Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP 87411 dated December 19, 2005, from which the rate of 6% per annum shall begin to run until its full payment before finality of judgment. Thereafter, if the amount adjudged remains unpaid, the interest rate shall be 12% per annum, computed from the time this Court's Decision becomes final and executory until fully satisfied."

SO ORDERED. 

Very truly yours,

MA. LUISA L. LAUREA
  Clerk of Court

By:

(Sgd.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZON
  Asst. Clerk of Court

Endnotes:

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^[*] J. Nachura, on official leave. J. Velasco, Jr., additional member, per Special Order 933 dated January 24, 2011.

^[1] G.R. No. 97412, July 12, 1994, 234 SCRA 78. 

^[2] Id. at 96-97.