Short answer. No. Article 2052 provides that a guaranty cannot exist without a valid obligation. A guaranty may, however, be constituted for a voidable or an unenforceable contract, and it may also guarantee a natural obligation, so the answer turns on which of those the loan really is.
What the law says
A guaranty cannot exist without a valid obligation. Nevertheless, a guaranty may be constituted to guarantee the performance of a voidable or an unenforceable contract. It may also guarantee a natural obligation.
Civil Code, Article 2052 — Guaranty Needs a Valid Obligation. Read the full provision →
A guaranty stands on something else
Article 2052 provides that A guaranty cannot exist without a valid obligation. Nevertheless, a guaranty may be constituted to guarantee the performance of a voidable or an unenforceable contract. It may also guarantee a natural obligation. The first sentence states the accessory character of the undertaking. Under Article 2047 the guarantor binds himself to the creditor to fulfil the obligation of the principal debtor should the latter fail to do so, so his liability is defined entirely by that principal obligation. Where the principal obligation is void, there is nothing for the guaranty to attach to and it falls with it.
Void, voidable and unenforceable are not interchangeable
This is where most of these arguments are actually decided, because people describe as void a contract that is merely defective. A voidable contract is valid and binding until annulled, and the article says expressly that a guaranty may be constituted for one. An unenforceable contract likewise supports a guaranty. Only a contract that is void from the beginning, and so never produced an obligation at all, takes the guaranty down with it. Before relying on Article 2052, be clear which category the loan falls into and what makes it so, because the label decides the outcome.
Natural obligations too
The last sentence extends the reach further. Article 1423 describes natural obligations as based on equity and natural law rather than positive law, not granting a right of action to enforce performance, but authorising retention of what has been voluntarily delivered or rendered. A guaranty may be given for such an obligation. So the fact that the creditor could not have sued the principal debtor is not by itself an answer for the guarantor, and a guarantor who signed knowing the debt was of that character has undertaken something the law is prepared to recognise.
The other limits on a guarantor's exposure
Even where the guaranty stands, its size is controlled. Article 2054 lets a guarantor bind himself for less but not for more than the principal debtor, as regards both the amount and the onerous nature of the conditions, and reduces his obligation to the debtor's limits if he bound himself for more. Article 2058 adds the benefit of excussion: the guarantor cannot be compelled to pay until the creditor has exhausted the property of the debtor and resorted to all legal remedies against him, subject to the exceptions in Article 2059.
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.
- Willex Plastic vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 103066, April 25, 1996 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 2052 — Guaranty Needs a Valid Obligation
- Civil Code, Article 2047 — Guaranty and Suretyship
- Civil Code, Article 2054 — Guarantor Bound for No More Than the Debtor
- Civil Code, Article 2058 — Benefit of Excussion