Short answer. A guaranty is gratuitous by default under Philippine law. Article 2048 of the Civil Code states that a guaranty is gratuitous unless there is a stipulation to the contrary. Because you signed with nothing agreed about compensation, you have no legal right to demand payment for having served as guarantor.
What the law says
A guaranty is gratuitous, unless there is a stipulation to the contrary.
Civil Code, Article 2048 — Guaranty Gratuitous by Default. Read the full provision →
Gratuitous by default
Article 2048 of the Civil Code lays down the default rule in a single sentence: "A guaranty is gratuitous, unless there is a stipulation to the contrary." This means that when you agree to guarantee a friend's loan and say nothing about being paid for it, the law treats your guarantee as a free service. The burden of proving that compensation was agreed falls on whoever claims it was. If the guaranty document and the loan agreement are both silent on the matter, gratuitousness is presumed.
When a guaranty can be onerous
The Civil Code does not prohibit a guarantor from being paid — it simply says the default is gratuitous. If the parties expressly agree that the guarantor will receive a fee, premium, or other consideration for taking on the risk, that stipulation is valid and enforceable. Commercial guaranty arrangements — particularly in banking and corporate finance — often include compensation. Professional surety companies, which guarantee obligations in exchange for premiums, operate on exactly this basis. The rule is that you need an explicit agreement; goodwill or expectation alone does not create an entitlement to compensation.
What you can recover if you end up paying
Being gratuitous means you signed for free — it does not mean you are left penniless if the debtor defaults and the creditor collects from you. A guarantor who pays the creditor acquires by subrogation the rights the creditor had against the debtor, and can seek reimbursement from the debtor for the amount paid. The Civil Code provisions on guaranty give the paying guarantor tools to recover the principal amount, legal interest, and the costs of collection — that is a separate right from compensation for the service of guaranteeing, and it survives the gratuitous nature of the guaranty.
Practical takeaway
If you are considering guaranteeing a loan in the future and want to be paid for taking on the risk, that must be written into the agreement before you sign. A side arrangement or oral promise is difficult to prove and easy to dispute. If you are already bound by an unpaid guaranty, your primary protection lies not in demanding a fee — which the law does not give you by default — but in monitoring the debtor's repayment closely and exercising your right of reimbursement if you are ever forced to pay the creditor yourself.