SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 246921. July 29, 2019.]
SY CHI SIONG AND JACINTO C. SY, petitioners, vs.CHINA BANKING CORPORATION, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated29 July 2019which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 246921 (Sy Chi Siong and Jacinto C. Sy v. China Banking Corporation)
After a judicious study of the case, the Court resolves to DENY the instant petition 1 and AFFIRM the January 25, 2019 Decision 2 and the May 9, 2019 Resolution 3 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CV No. 111390 for failure of petitioners Sy Chi Siong and Jacinto C. Sy (petitioners) to sufficiently show that the CA committed any reversible error in affirming their respective liabilities to respondent China Banking Corporation (respondent) as sureties of Luis L. Co (Luis) under the two Surety Agreements (SAs).
As correctly ruled by the CA, petitioners are solidarily liable for the loan obligations obtained by Luis from respondent by virtue of the SAs, which they individually signed and executed on January 31, 1995 4 and July 10, 2000, 5 respectively. 6 Their claim that the SAs were forged or invalid was not substantiated. 7 It is settled that a surety binds himself to pay the principal's debt if the principal does not, without regard to his ability to do so. 8 Moreover, notwithstanding the supposed irregularity in the notarization of the SAs which must also be proved, the burden rested on petitioners to prove the fact of forgery, 9 which they failed to do. Settled is the rule that factual findings of trial courts, especially when affirmed by the appellate courts and supported by sufficient evidence, deserve respect and finality by this Court, 10 as in this case.
SO ORDERED. (LEONEN, J., designated Additional Member viceLAZARO-JAVIER, J., per Raffle dated July 15, 2019.)"
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) MARIA LOURDES C. PERFECTODivision Clerk of Court
By:
TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 9-16.
2.Id. at 20-28. Penned by Associate Justice Remedios A. Salazar-Fernando with Associate Justices Amy C. Lazaro-Javier (now a Member of this Court) and Marie Christine Azcarraga-Jacob, concurring.
3.Id. at 29-30. Penned by Associate Justice Remedios A. Salazar-Fernando with Associate Justices Pedro B. Corales and Marie Christine Azcarraga-Jacob, concurring.
4. Signed by Sy Chi Siong as surety; id. at 38-39.
5. Signed by Jacinto C. Sy as surety; id. at 40-42.
6. See id. at 26.
7. See id.
8. See Carodan v. China Banking Corporation, 781 Phil. 750, 762 (2016), citing E. Zobe, Inc. v. CA, 352 Phil. 608, 614-615 (1998).
9. See Dela Rama v. Papa, 597 Phil. 227, 244 (2009).
10. See Pacific Airways Corporation v. Tonda, 441 Phil. 156, 162 (2002).