Short answer. Yes. Article 2076 provides that the guarantor's obligation is extinguished at the same time as the debtor's, and for the same causes as all other obligations. Because a guaranty is accessory to the principal debt, extinguishing that debt extinguishes the guaranty with it — and a guaranty can also end on its own causes.
What the law says
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.
Civil Code, Article 2076 — Extinguishment of the Guaranty. Read the full provision →
What the law says
for the same causes as all other obligations
Civil Code, Article 2076 — Extinguishment of the Guaranty. Read the full provision →
The guaranty is accessory to the principal debt
A guaranty never stands on its own; it exists to secure a principal obligation, and its fate is tied to that obligation. Article 2076 captures this: 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. The guaranty is accessory. When the principal debt is validly extinguished — paid, condoned, merged, or otherwise brought to an end — the guarantor's liability falls away at the same moment, automatically, without need of a separate release. There is nothing left to secure, so there is nothing left for the guarantor to answer for. He does not have to negotiate his own discharge.
The same causes as all other obligations
The article makes two points, not one. The first is the timing — the guaranty ends when the principal obligation ends. The second is that the guaranty can also be extinguished for the same causes as all other obligations. A guaranty is itself an obligation, so the general modes of extinguishing obligations apply to it directly: payment by the guarantor, condonation of the guaranty, novation, merger, prescription, and the rest. This means a guarantor may be released even while the principal debt survives, through a cause operating on the guaranty itself. The two routes are independent: the debt's extinguishment ends the guaranty, and the guaranty can end on its own.
Only a genuine extinguishment counts
The caveat worth stressing is that the extinguishment of the principal debt must be genuine and complete for the guarantor to go free by that route. If the debt is only apparently extinguished, or is replaced by a new obligation, or the supposed payment is later undone, the security position can be different from what it first appears. Similarly, a partial extinguishment reduces but does not erase the guarantor's exposure. So the question is not merely whether something happened to the principal debt, but whether that something actually and fully extinguished it — because only a real extinguishment carries the guaranty away with it.
What this means in practice
For a guarantor, the practical lesson is reassuring but requires proof. If you are being pursued after the principal debt has been settled, the discharge of that debt is itself your defence: you need not have obtained a separate release, because the guaranty ended with the obligation it secured. What matters is evidence that the principal obligation was truly extinguished — the receipt, the release, the record of payment or novation. For a creditor, the mirror lesson is that letting the principal debt go, or accepting something that extinguishes it, lets the guarantor go too, so the consequences for the security have to be weighed before doing so.
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.
- Central Visayas Finance Corporation vs. Sps. Eliezer S. Adlawan and Leila Adlawan, et al, G.R. No. 212674, March 25, 2019 — read the decision on LawPhil →