Short answer. It depends on how the thing was lost. Article 1205 of the Civil Code gives the debtor the remaining choices if loss was a fortuitous event, but if the debtor was at fault, you as creditor may claim any surviving thing, or the price of the lost one, plus damages in either case.
What the law says
When the choice has been expressly given to the creditor, the obligation shall cease to be alternative from the day when the selection has been communicated to the debtor.
Civil Code, Article 1205 — Loss When the Creditor Has the Choice. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If one of the things is lost through a fortuitous event, he shall perform the obligation by delivering that which the creditor should choose from among the remainder, or that which remains if only one subsists
Civil Code, Article 1205 — Loss When the Creditor Has the Choice. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If the loss of one of the things occurs through the fault of the debtor, the creditor may claim any of those subsisting, or the price of that which, through the fault of the former, has disappeared, with a right to damages
Civil Code, Article 1205 — Loss When the Creditor Has the Choice. Read the full provision →
First, whether you have already chosen matters
Article 1205 opens by noting that once the creditor's choice has been communicated to the debtor, the obligation stops being alternative — it becomes fixed on whatever was selected. Until that communication happens, the debtor's responsibility for a loss among the remaining options is governed by the rules the article then lays out. So the first question is whether you had already made and communicated your selection before the loss occurred; if you had, this article's rules for an undecided choice no longer apply.
Loss by fortuitous event: the debtor still performs
If one of the things is lost through a fortuitous event — something outside anyone's fault — the debtor still has to perform. They deliver whichever thing you, as creditor, choose from among what remains, or the one item left if only one still subsists. A fortuitous loss does not free the debtor from the obligation altogether; it simply removes the lost item from the pool you get to choose from.
Loss through the debtor's fault: you get more options
Where the loss happens through the fault of the debtor, your position as creditor is stronger. You may claim any of the things still subsisting, or instead claim the price of the one that disappeared because of the debtor's fault — and either way, you also have a right to damages. The debtor's own fault is what expands your choices here, compared to the more limited outcome when the loss was nobody's fault.
If everything is lost through the debtor's fault
The article also covers total loss caused by the debtor: if all the things are lost through the debtor's fault, your choice as creditor falls on the price of any one of them, again with a right to indemnity for damages. The same rules extend to obligations to do or not do something, where one, some, or all of the things to be performed become impossible. Work out which scenario matches your facts, since it determines exactly what you can claim.
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.
- Romago, Inc. and Francisco Gonzalez vs. Associated Bank (Now United Overseas Bank Phils.) and Metallor Trading Corporation, G.R. No. 223450, February 22, 2023 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Bank of the Philippine Islands vs Amador Domingo (deceased) substituted by his children, Joann Moya, et al, G.R. No. 169407, March 25, 2015 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Chester Babst, vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 99398, January 26, 2001 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Elizalde Steel Consolidated, Inc., vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 104625, January 26, 2001 — read the decision on LawPhil →