Short answer. No. Article 1266 releases a debtor in an obligation to do when the prestation becomes physically impossible without the debtor's fault. If genuine physical impossibility, not mere difficulty or inconvenience, prevents performance and you did nothing to cause it, you are no longer bound to carry out the act.
What the law says
The debtor in obligations to do shall also be released when the prestation becomes legally or physically impossible without the fault of the obligor.
Civil Code, Article 1266 — Impossibility in Obligations to Do. Read the full provision →
Physical impossibility can release you from an obligation to do
Article 1266 states that the debtor in obligations to do shall also be released when the prestation becomes legally or physically impossible without the fault of the obligor. An obligation to do is a promise to perform an act, such as rendering a service or completing a task, rather than to deliver a thing. When performing that act becomes genuinely impossible in the physical sense, meaning no one could carry it out given how circumstances have changed, the law releases the debtor instead of forcing an outcome that cannot actually happen.
Impossibility must be real, not merely inconvenient
The article requires actual impossibility, not performance that has simply become harder, costlier, or less convenient than expected. A debtor who finds the task more burdensome than anticipated is not thereby released; the obstacle has to make performance truly impossible for anyone in the debtor's position, not just unappealing for this particular debtor. Courts and parties distinguishing genuine impossibility from mere hardship look at whether the specific act promised can still be physically accomplished at all, not at whether it remains convenient or profitable to do so.
Why the impossibility must not be your fault
Release under Article 1266 is conditioned on the impossibility arising without the fault of the obligor. If you caused the impossibility yourself, whether through negligence, a deliberate act, or a risk you had already assumed under the contract, you remain bound and may be liable for failing to perform. The release exists to excuse debtors caught by circumstances truly beyond their control, such as the destruction of the only thing the act depended on through no wrongdoing of the debtor, not to reward a debtor who brought the impossibility upon themselves.
What happens once you are released
Once physical impossibility beyond your fault is established, you can no longer be compelled to perform the act, and you should not be held liable for damages for the failure to perform it, since Article 1266 treats the obligation as extinguished on this specific point. Any other obligations under the same agreement that remain physically possible are not automatically wiped out along with it. Documenting exactly what made performance impossible, and when, helps protect you if the other party later disputes whether true impossibility, rather than mere difficulty, actually existed.
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.
- Asian Construction and Development Corporation vs. Philippine Commercial International Bank, G.R. No. 153827, April 25, 2006 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Delfin C. Gonzalez, Jr. vs. Magdaleno M. Peña, et al, G.R. No. 214303, January 30, 2017 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Raymundo S. De Leon vs. Republic of the Philippines, G.R. No. 170405, February 2, 2010 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- El Reyno Homes, Inc. vs. Ernesto Ong and Ma. Sonia Tan Soon Ha, G.R. No. 142440, February 17, 2003 — read the decision on LawPhil →