EDWARD V.

LACSON
vs.
MAOWEE DABAN LACSON
and MAONAA DABAN LACSON, represented
by their mother and guardian ad-litem, LEA
DABAN LACSON
[G.R. No. 150644. August 28, 2006]
FACTS: The sisters Maowee and Maonaa are
legitimate daughters of petitioner Edward V. Lacson
and his wife, Lea Daban Lacson. Maowee was born
on December 4, 1974, while Maonaa, a little less
than a year later. Not long after the birth of Maonaa,
petitioner left the conjugal home in Molo, Iloilo
City, forcing mother and children to seek, apparently
for financial reason, shelter somewhere else.
Respondents, from 1976 to 1994, or for a period of
eighteen (18) years, shuttled from one dwelling
place to another not their own.
It appears that from the start of their
estrangement, Lea did not badger her husband
Edward for support, relying initially on his
commitment memorialized in a note dated
December 10, 1975 to give support to his daughters.
Despite his promise of support, he only gave their
children meager amounts for school expenses
occasionally. Through the years and up to the middle
part of 1992, Edwards mother, Alicia Lacson, also
gave small amounts to help in the schooling of
Maowee
and
Maonaa,
both
of
whom
eventually took up nursing at St. Pauls College
in Iloilo City. In the early part of 1995 when Lea, in
behalf of her two daughters, filed a complaint
against Edward for support before the RTC of Iloilo
City, Maowee was about to graduate.
In that complaint dated January 30, 1995, as
amended, Maowee and Maonaa, thru their mother,
averred that their father Edward, despite being
gainfully employed and owning several pieces of
valuable lands, has not provided them support since
1976. They also alleged that, owing to years of
Edwards failure and neglect, their mother had, from
time to time, borrowed money from her brother Noel
Daban. As she would later testify, Lea had received
from Noel, by way of a loan, as much as
P400,000.00 to P600,000.00.
In his Answer, Edward alleged giving to
Maowee and Maonaa sufficient sum to meet their
needs. He explained, however, that his lack of
regular income and the unproductivity of the land he
inherited, not his neglect, accounted for his failure at

times to give regular support. He also blamed

financial constraint for his inability to provide
the P12,000.00 monthly allowance prayed for in the
complaint.
RTC: Granted the sisters Maowee and Maonaa
support pendente lite at P12,000.00 per month,
subject to the schedule of payment and other
conditions set forth in the courts corresponding order
of May 13, 1996. Also, Edward was ordered to pay a
specific sum of P2, 496,000.00 representing 216
months, or 18 years, of support in arrears from
which amount shall be deducted P124,000.00
representing the amount received from defendant for
two years.
CA: Affirmed the RTCs decision.
ISSUES:
(1) Whether petitioner is obliged to give support in
arrears from 1976 to 1994 when no judicial demand
has been made during such period invoking Article
203 of the Family Code.
(2) Whether petitioner is obliged to pay Noel Daban
for the loan obtained by Lea.
(3) Whether the proceeds from the sale of his
exclusive property were sufficient to satisfy the
payment of support in arrears.
RULING:
(1) An extrajudicial demand for support had been
made on the petitioner as evidenced by the
December 10, 1975 note adverted to. The Court
finds no adequate reason to disturb the factual
determination of the CA confirmatory of that of the
trial court respecting the demand Lea made on the
petitioner to secure support for the respondents.
Furthermore, petitioner could not plausibly expect
any of the sisters during their tender years to go
through the motion of demanding support from him,
what with the fact that even their mother (his wife)
found it difficult during the period material to get in
touch with him. It may be that Lea made no
extrajudicial demand in the sense of a formal written
demand in terms and in the imperious tenor
commonly used by legal advocates in a demand
letter. Nonetheless, what would pass as a demand
was, however, definitely made. Asking one to
comply with his obligation to support owing to the
urgency of the situation is no less a demand
because it came by way of a request or a plea. As it
were, the trial court found that a demand to sustain
an award of support in arrears had been made in this
case and said so in its decision, thus:

From 1976, [respondents] mother now and then

went to their [paternal] grandmothers house by
their father and asked for support; this
notwithstanding their fathers commitment for
this purpose which the latter embodied in a note
dated December 10, 1975. For twenty-one years
that they needed support, [petitioner] complied
with his obligation for only two (2) years.
xxx xxx xxx
Last December 10, 1975, [petitioner] committed
self for the support of his children, the
[respondents]
herein
but
failing,
plaintiffs mother asked extrajudicially for her
childrens support since 1976, when she went to
her mothers house.
The appellate court made a parallel finding on the
demand angle, formulating the same in the following
wise:
We could not confer judicial approval upon
[petitioners] posture of trying to evade his
responsibility to give support to his daughters
simply because their mother did not make a
formal demand therefor from him. [Petitioners]
insistence on requiring a formal demand from
his wife is truly pointless, in the face of his
acknowledgment of and commitment to comply
with such obligation through a note in his own
handwriting. Said note [stating that he will
sustain his two daughters Maowee and
Maonaa] also stated as requested by their
mother thus practically confirming the fact of
such demand having been made by
[respondents] mother. The trial court thus
correctly ruled that [petitioners] obligation to
pay support in arrears should commence from
1976.
(2) The juridical relationship between the petitioner
and Noel Daban is a quasi-contract, an equitable
principle enjoining one from unjustly enriching
himself at the expense of another. It bears stressing
that from 1976 to 1994, petitioner provided his
children token amounts for schooling when support
comprises everything indispensable for sustenance,
dwelling, clothing, medical attendance and
education, or, in short, whatever is necessary to keep
a person alive. Logically, the sisters would, thru their
mother, turn to their uncle (Noel Daban) for their
sustenance and education when petitioner failed to
give the same. Since such failure has been

established, it is not amiss to deduce, as did the trial

court and the CA, that Noel Daban who, owing to
consideration of kinship, had reasons to help, indeed
lent his sister Lea money to support her children.
Pursuant to Article 207 of the Family Code, Noel
Daban can rightfully exact reimbursement from the
petitioner. The provision reads:
When the person obliged to support another
unjustly refuses or fails to give support when
urgently needed by the latter, any third person
may furnish support to the needy individual,
with right of reimbursement from the person
obliged to give support.
(3) As for the sale made by Lea of half of what
petitioner claims to be his exclusive or capital
property. Petitioner alleged that respondents
appropriated the P5 Million proceeds of the sale for
themselves, an amount which is more than enough to
fully satisfy thus release him from complying
with the
underlying
judgment
for
support, assuming ex gratia argumenti his obligation
to pay support in arrears.
Petitioner failed to prove that the subject property
was exclusively his, as in fact [respondents] mother
asserts that she and [petitioner] had separately sold
their respective shares on said property. Moreover,
respondent-sisters were not party to the sale,
therefore, that part of the proceeds obtained by the
respondent which may set off petitioners obligation
by way of support in arrears is unacceptable, being
at best gratuitous and self-serving.