Short answer. Some of them. Article 2081 lets the guarantor set up against the creditor all the defences which pertain to the principal debtor and are inherent in the debt — but not those that are personal to the debtor. Payment, prescription and nullity of the loan transfer; the borrower's minority or personal incapacity does not.
What the law says
The guarantor may set up against the creditor all the defenses which pertain to the principal debtor and are inherent in the debt; but not those that are personal to the debtor.
Civil Code, Article 2081 — Guarantor's Defenses. Read the full provision →
Inherent in the debt, not personal to the debtor
Article 2081 draws the line in one sentence: The guarantor may set up against the creditor all the defenses which pertain to the principal debtor and are inherent in the debt; but not those that are personal to the debtor. A guaranty is accessory — it secures a particular obligation, so anything showing that obligation is smaller, extinguished or void is equally available to the guarantor. What he cannot borrow is a defence that exists only because of who the debtor is. The distinction is between attacking the debt and attacking the debtor's own position.
Which defences travel
Defences inherent in the debt are the ones a guarantor most often needs. That the loan was already paid, in whole or in part. That it was extinguished by another mode — condonation, compensation, novation. That the amount claimed exceeds what was actually lent. That the action has prescribed. That the contract itself is void, or that the creditor has not complied with a condition on which the obligation depended. Article 2076 states the principle behind all of these: the obligation of the guarantor is extinguished at the same time as that of the debtor, and for the same causes as all other obligations.
Which stay with the borrower
Personal defences do not transfer, and that is deliberate. A guaranty exists precisely to cover the risk that the debtor cannot be made to pay: his minority or other incapacity, his insolvency, a personal exemption he enjoys. If those defences passed to the guarantor, the security would fail exactly when it is needed. Note the practical consequence — a guarantor sued after the borrower has gone bankrupt or disappeared cannot answer that the borrower could not have been made to pay. He can only attack the debt itself, or show that his own undertaking was never validly given.
The guarantor's own defences
Article 2081 is not the whole armoury; a guarantor also has defences of his own. Article 2080 releases guarantors, even solidary ones, whenever by some act of the creditor they cannot be subrogated to the creditor's rights, mortgages and preferences — so a bank that releases the collateral, or lets a mortgage lapse, may have released you with it. Article 2077 releases the guarantor where the creditor voluntarily accepts property in payment of the debt, even if he later loses it through eviction. When a demand arrives, the questions are therefore what happened to the security, what the debtor has already paid, and what the loan document actually says.
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.
- Spouses Alfredo and Susana Ong vs. Philippine Commercial International Bank, G.R. No. 160466, January 17, 2005 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Paulino M. Ejercito, et al. vs. Oriental Assurance Corporation, G.R. No. 192099, July 8, 2015 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Autocorp Group, et al. vs. Intra Strata Assurance Corp, et al, G.R. No. 166662, June 27, 2008 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 2081 — Guarantor's Defenses
- Civil Code, Article 2076 — Extinguishment of the Guaranty
- Civil Code, Article 2077 — Dation Releases the Guarantor
- Civil Code, Article 2080 — Guarantor Released by Loss of Subrogation