Florentino v. PNB G.R. No. L-8782. April 28, 1956

Facts: Florentino et al are indebted to the respondent bank in the amount of P6,800 plus interest, incurred on January 2, 1953, which is due on January 2, 1954. The said loan is secured by a mortgage of real properties. Petitioner Florentino is a holder of Backpay Acknowledgment No. 1721 dated October 6, 1954, in the amount of P22,896.33 by virtue of Republic Act No. 897 approved on June 20, 1953. On December 27, 1953, petitioners offered to pay their loan with the respondent bank with their backpay certificate but PNB refused to accept petitioner’s offer to pay the said indebtedness with the latter’s backpay certificate.

Issue: Whether or not, Philippine National Bank be compelled to accept the backpay certificate of petitioner Marcelino B. Florentino issued to him by the Republic of the Philippines, to pay an indebtedness to the Philippine National Bank

Held: Appellee is ordered to accept the backpay certificate.

Ratio: Section 2 of RA 304 reads as “…obligations subsisting at the time of the approval of this amendatory Act for which the applicant may directly be liable to 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.” SC held that the qualifying clause refers only to the last antecedent; that is, “any citizen of the Philippines or any association or corporation organized under the laws of the Philippines.” It should be noted that there is a comma before the words “or to any citizen, etc.,” which separates said phrase from the preceding ones. Hence, “who may be willing to accept the same for settlement” applies only to the last antecedent.

StatCon maxim: An argument based upon punctuation alone is not persuasive, and the courts will not hesitate to change the punctuation when necessary, to give the statute the effect intended by the legislature, disregarding superfluous or incorrect punctuation marks and inserting others where necessary.