Short answer. Yes. Under the Civil Code, a seller answers to the buyer for hidden faults or defects in the thing sold even if he honestly did not know they existed. Good faith reduces what the seller must pay, but it does not by itself erase the warranty.
What the law says
The vendor is responsible to the vendee for any hidden faults or defects in the thing sold, even though he was not aware thereof.
Civil Code, Article 1566 — Vendor Liable Though Unaware. Read the full provision →
Ignorance is not a defence to the warranty itself
Many sellers assume that if they never noticed a problem, they cannot be blamed for it. The Civil Code takes the opposite view. The warranty against hidden defects is attached to the sale, not to the seller's state of mind, so it operates even where the seller was perfectly honest. The reason is practical: the buyer paid for a thing that works, and between two innocent parties the law places the loss on the one who owned and delivered the item. What the seller's good faith does change is exposure — an innocent seller is generally answerable for the price and the buyer's expenses, while a seller who concealed a known defect faces a wider bill, including damages.
What counts as a hidden defect
The warranty covers faults that are hidden and serious. A defect the buyer could see, or that an ordinarily careful buyer in that trade should have spotted on inspection, is not hidden — you accept what is plainly in front of you. The fault must also matter: it has to make the thing unfit for its intended use, or reduce that use so much that the buyer would not have bought it, or would have paid less, had he known. Ordinary wear on a second-hand item, cosmetic imperfections, and problems that appear only because of the buyer's own misuse after delivery fall outside the warranty.
When the parties agree otherwise
The article carries its own exception. A stipulation waiving the warranty can free the seller — but only where the seller was in fact unaware of the hidden fault. A seller who knew of the defect and hid it behind an "as is" clause cannot shelter behind that clause; the waiver is read against the party who wrote it and knew what it was covering. So the phrase "sold as is, where is" is not the shield sellers imagine. It protects the ignorant seller and does nothing for the one who stayed silent about a problem he had already seen.
What this means if you are the buyer
A buyer who discovers a hidden fault normally chooses between returning the thing and recovering what he paid, or keeping it and demanding a reduction in price. These remedies are subject to short prescriptive periods, so delay is the most common way a good claim is lost — document the defect and put the seller on notice in writing as soon as it appears. Keep the item, the receipt and any repair reports; a buyer who has already dismantled or disposed of the thing will struggle to prove the fault existed at delivery rather than afterwards. Whether a particular defect qualifies depends on the item, the trade and what was said before the sale, and is worth reviewing with counsel.
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.
- Nutrimix Feeds Corporation vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 152219, October 25, 2004 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- RCBC Savings Bank vs. Noel M. Odrada, G.R. No. 219037, October 19, 2016 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Dra. Leila A. Dela Llana vs. Rebecca Biong, doing business under the name and style of Pongkay Trading, G.R. No. 182356, December 4, 2013 — read the decision on LawPhil →