Luis S. Misterio v. Cebu State College of Science

Summary

This case involves a dispute over the right to repurchase property sold under a pacto de retro arrangement. In 1956, Asuncion Sadaya-Misterio sold land to Sudlon Agricultural High School with a condition allowing repurchase if the school ceased to exist. When B.P. Blg. 412 converted the school into part of CSCST in 1983, the heirs attempted to exercise their repurchase right in 1990. The RTC initially ruled in favor of the heirs, but the Court of Appeals reversed, finding the right had prescribed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the four-year prescriptive period under Article 1606 of the Civil Code began running when the school ceased to exist in 1983 and expired in 1987, well before the heirs attempted to exercise their rights. The case establishes that prescription periods in pacto de retro sales run from the occurrence of the triggering condition, regardless of disputes over its interpretation.