G.R. No. 34618; March 5, 1932
ANTONIA FERRER, plaintiff-appellee, vs. JOSE S. LOPEZ and MARIANO SANTOS, defendants-appellants.

FACTS

Patricio Aliño, as judicial administrator of the estate of his late wife Tasiana Ferrer, incurred obligations to the heirs. The court held him personally liable for P9,504.91, to be covered by his bond, for acting without judicial authority. In the partition, Antonia Ferrer (an heir) was adjudicated a credit of P1,188.12 against Aliño. Before satisfaction, Aliño died. The new administrator of Tasiana Ferrer’s estate, Eutiquio Santa Cruz, filed Ferrer’s claim with the committee on claims and appraisals in Aliño’s intestate proceedings. The committee did not act on it due to a member’s death and a subsequent failure to re-file after a replacement was appointed. Ferrer then filed a complaint directly against Aliño’s sureties (Lopez and Santos). The trial court ordered the sureties to pay Ferrer.

ISSUE

Whether the plaintiff’s failure to have her claim formally acted upon by the committee on claims in the principal debtor’s (Aliño) estate proceedings extinguishes the obligation, thereby also extinguishing the accessory liability of the sureties.

RULING

No. The obligation of the principal debtor (Aliño) was not extinguished, and thus the accessory obligation of the sureties remains. The claim was duly filed with the committee on time. A change in the committee’s composition does not necessitate a re-filing. The filing was for the purpose of classification, not for the committee’s adjudication of the claim’s validity, as the court had already established Aliño’s liability. Since the principal obligation is valid and unsatisfied, and the sureties bound themselves solidarily, the creditor may directly sue the sureties under Article 1144 of the Civil Code. The judgment against the sureties is affirmed, without prejudice to their rights against Aliño’s heirs.

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