Short answer. No — not yet. Article 1201 says the choice in an alternative obligation shall produce no effect except from the time it has been communicated. Until you actually notify the other side of which item you have chosen, your decision has no legal effect, so you are not locked into it and can still change your mind.
What the law says
The choice shall produce no effect except from the time it has been communicated.
Civil Code, Article 1201 — Communication of the Choice. Read the full provision →
The choice binds only once communicated
Article 1201 states the rule in a single sentence: the choice shall produce no effect except from the time it has been communicated. In an alternative obligation — where the debtor may satisfy the debt by performing one of several possible prestations — making up your mind is not, by itself, the legal act of choosing. What fixes the choice is telling the other party. Until that communication happens, the obligation stays alternative: all the options remain open, and the private intention you have not yet expressed does not narrow the obligation down to one. Deciding in your head is not the same as choosing in law.
Why communication is the trigger
The requirement protects both sides and creates certainty. The creditor needs to know which performance to expect so he can prepare to receive it; leaving the choice locked in the debtor's mind would keep the creditor guessing. Tying the effect of the choice to its communication gives a clear, provable moment when the obligation stops being alternative and becomes a duty to perform one specific thing. It also prevents disputes about a choice that was supposedly made but never revealed. The law therefore looks not to when you decided, but to when the other party was informed.
You can change your mind until you tell them
The practical consequence answers your question directly. Because an uncommunicated choice has no effect, you are free to reconsider it right up until you notify the other side. If you privately settled on one option but said nothing, and then concluded the other suits you better, you may still switch — nothing has yet bound you to the first. Once you communicate a choice, however, that flexibility ends: the obligation is concentrated on the option you named, and you can no longer change to another simply because you have had second thoughts.
How to communicate, and what changes after
The Code does not prescribe a rigid form for the communication, but the safe course is a clear, provable notice — ideally in writing — stating exactly which prestation you have chosen. From the moment it reaches the other party, the choice takes effect: the obligation is no longer alternative, and both sides are held to the single performance selected. That is also why it is worth being deliberate before you communicate. Speaking too soon fixes you to an option you might have preferred to keep open; saying nothing leaves the whole obligation, and all its options, still in play.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Mondragon Leisure and Resorts Corporation vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 154188, June 15, 2005 — read the decision on LawPhil →