Tio Khe Chio v. CA GR No.

76101-02 September 30, 1991 Facts: Petitioner shipped bags of imported fishmeals and insured the same with respondent insurance company Eastern Assurance & Surety Corp (EASCO). During transit, the bags were found out to be damaged thus rendering the fishmeals useless. Petitioner filed a claim before the EASCO which denied the same, prompting the former to sue the latter at CFI Cebu who ordered EASCO to pay the petitioner's claim for insurance with damages. Upon execution, respondent filed a petition for certiorari with the CA who set aside the lower court's decision arguing that the latter has erred in fixing the legal interest on 12% per annum rather than the mandated 6%. Issue: What should the legal interest be for damages arising from loss of property? Held: The applicable law is Article 2209 of the Civil Code which reads that if the obligation consists in the payment of a sum of money and the debtor incurs in delay, the indemnity for damages, there being no stipulation to the contrary, shall be the payment of interest agreed upon, and in the absence of stipulation, the legal interest which is 6% per annum. The adjusted rate mentioned in the Circular No. 416, from which the CFI based its decision, refers only to loans or forbearances of money, goods or credits and court judgments thereon but not to court judgments for damages arising from injury to persons and loss of property which does not involve a loan. Tio Khe Chio vs. Court of Appeals (202 SCRA 119)Circular No. 416 of the Central Bank which took effect on July 29, 1974 pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 116 (Usury Law) raised the legal rate of interest from six (6%) percent to twelve (12%) percent. The adjusted rate mentioned in the circular refers only to loans or forbearances of money, goods or credits and court judgments thereon but not to court judgments for damages arising from injury to persons and loss of property which does not involve a loan. In the case of Philippine Rabbit Bus Lines, Inc. vs. Cruz ,G.R. No. 71017, July 28, 1986, 143 SCRA 158, the Court declared that the legal rate of interest is six (6%) percent per annum and not twelve (12%) percent, where a judgment award is based on an action for damages for personal injury, not use or forbearance of money, goods or credit. In the same vein, the Court held in GSIS vs. Court of Appeals G.R. No. 52478, October30, 1986, 145 SCRA 311, that the rates under the Usury Law(amended by P. D. 116) are applicable only to interest by

way of compensation for the use or forbearance of money; interest by way of damages is governed by Article 2209 of the Civil Code.