THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. GREGORIO NIEVA AND MARIA A. DE NIEVA, DEFENDANTS. MARIA A. DE NIEVA, APPELLANT.

“Therefore, the defendants Gregorio Nieva and his wife Maria A.
de Nieva are hereby sentenced to pay plaintiff the sum of P164,000 with interest
at six per cent per annum from January 14, 1927, the date of the filing of the
complaint, plus the sum of P16,400 as attorney’s fees, collection charges, and
other disbursements and the costs of action; the liability of the defendant
Maria A. de Nieva being limited to the land described in the mortgage deed,
Exhibit A. It is ordered that said defendants deposit with the clerk of the
Court of First Instance of Mindoro, or pay to the plaintiff the sums
aforementioned, within the period of three (3) months from this date, and in
default thereof, let a writ of execution issue for the sale of the property
described in the deed Exhibit A, schedule A, said writ to be issued against the
defendant Gregorio Nieva’s property only, for the balance of the mortgage debt
remaining unsatisfied after the sale of the mortgaged property.

“So ordered.”

The error assigned in this judgment is that of having sentenced
Maria A. de Nieva to pay the plaintiff bank the sum of P164,000 with interest,
attorney’s fees, and costs; because, appellant’s counsel contends, she did not
subscribe to the obligation of her codefendant and husband, nor assumed nor
guaranteed, over her signature, the payment thereof, having confined herself
mortgaging certain property of hers to answer for such obligation.

In the mortgage contract on which the present action is based,
there is this express limitation of the obligation contracted by the
appellant:

“It is the understanding that the responsibility of Maria A. de
Nieva alone shall not extend further than the value of the mortgaged
property.”

And this was taken into account by the trial court which, in
the dispositive part of its judgment, as may be seen in the paragraph copied in
this decision, thus expressed it:

“* * * the liability of the defendant Maria A. de Nieva being
limited to the land described in the mortgage deed, Exhibit A. * * * let a writ
of execution issue for the sale of the property described in the deed Exhibit A,
schedule A, said writ to be issued against the defendant Gregorio Nieva’s
property only, for the balance of the mortgage debt remaining unsatisfied after
the sale of the mortgaged property.”

It is therefore clear that the appellant cannot be compelled to
pay any amount to the plaintiff bank; and although in the beginning of the
dispositive part quoted above she is jointly sentenced with her husband to pay
the sum adjudged in the decision, such order is explained, qualified, and
limited in the remaining portion of the paragraph to deliver the mortgaged
property for its sale under execution in case her husband and codefendant should
not satisfy the sum awarded in the judgment.

The judgment appealed from should be so understood, and thus
taken, it does not contain the error assigned to it.

The same is therefore hereby affirmed with costs against the
appellant. So ordered.

Johnson, Street, Malcolm, Ostrand, and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.