FLORENTINO v. PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANKG.R. No. L-8782 April 8, 1956

FACTS:

The petitioner was indebted to the Respondent, Philippine National Bank which is a government-owned bank. The petitioner, being a holder of backpay certificate wanted to pay the said certificate to the respondent. But the respondent refused to accept the latter’s offer of payment citing the part of Section 2 of RA 879 which states that:

“the Government or to any of its branches or instrumentalities, or the corporations owned or control by the Government, or to any citizen of the Philippines, or to any association or corporation organized under the laws of the Philippines, who may be willing to accept the same for such settlement”,

which implies that the petitioner cannot compel the respondent to accept the backpay certificate.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the holder of backpay certificates can compel a government-owned banks to accept said certificates as payment.

HELD:

Yes. Under the doctrine of last antecedent, the respondent cannot argue that the clause “who may be willing to accept the same for such settlement” also applies to the government-owned agencies as the said clause only refers to the last antecedent “any citizen of the Philippines, or to any association or corporation organized under the laws of the Philippines”. Also, the court explained that ruling in favor of respondent would constitute a question of its constitutionality as it would impair the obligations and contracts between private individual and corporations.