FACTS:
Petitioner and private respondent entered into a contract of sale over a parcel of land to be paid within four (4) years from execution of the contract. The contract included stipulations for cancellation, forfeiture of previous payments, and reconveyance of the land in question in case the private respondent would fail to complete payment within the said period. Upon the denial of its requests to pay in three installments when the period of payment had expired, private respondent proffered a personal check which petitioner refused to accept.
ISSUE(S):
Whether or not there was a tender of payment.
HELD:
NO. Since a negotiable instrument is only a substitute for money and not money, the delivery of such an instrument does not, by itself, operate as payment. A check, whether a manager’s check or ordinary check, is not legal tender, and an offer of a check in payment of a debt is not a valid tender of payment and may be refused receipt by the oblige or creditor.
