UNLAD RESOURCES V. DRAGON (CIVIL)

Mutual restitution is required in cases involving rescission under Article 1191. This means bringing the parties back to their original status prior to the inception of the contract. Article 1385 of the Civil Code provides:

Article 1385. Rescission creates the obligation to return the things which were the object of the contract, together with their fruits, and the price with its interest; consequently, it can be carried out only when he who demands rescission can turn whatever he may be obligated to restore.

Neither shall rescission take place when the things which are the object of the contract are legally in the possession of third persons who did not act in bad faith.

In this case, indemnity for damages may be demanded from the person causing the loss.

Rescission has the effect of "unmaking a contract, or its undoing from the beginning, and not merely its termination." Hence, rescission creates the obligation to return the object of the contract. It can be carried out only when the one who demands rescission can turn whatever he may be obliged to restore. To rescind is to declare a contract void at its inception and to put an end to it as though it never was. It is not merely to terminate it and release the parties from further obligations to each other, but to abrogate it from the beginning and restore the parties to their relative positions as if no contract has been made.

Accordingly, when a decree for rescission is handed down, it is the duty of the court to require both the parties to surrender that which they have respectively received and to place each other as far as practicable in his original situation. The rescission has the effect of abrogating the contract in all parts.

Clearly, the petitioners failed to fulfill their end of the agreement, and thus, there was just cause for rescission. With the contract thus rescinded, the parties must be restored to the status quo ante, that is, before they entered into the Memorandum of Agreement.