Short answer. No. Article 1218 of the Civil Code denies reimbursement to a solidary debtor who pays after the obligation has already prescribed or become illegal. Paying voluntarily on a debt the law no longer enforces is treated as your own choice, not something your co-debtors have to share the cost of.
What the law says
Payment by a solidary debtor shall not entitle him to reimbursement from his co-debtors if such payment is made after the obligation has prescribed or become illegal.
Civil Code, Article 1218 — Payment After Prescription or Illegality. Read the full provision →
The rule Article 1218 states
Article 1218 is direct: payment by a solidary debtor shall not entitle him to reimbursement from his co-debtors if such payment is made after the obligation has prescribed or become illegal. Ordinarily, a solidary debtor who pays the whole debt can seek reimbursement from the co-debtors for their respective shares. This article removes that right in one specific situation — where the payment happens after the debt has already prescribed, meaning the creditor's legal window to enforce it has already closed, or after it has become illegal.
Why timing is what decides the outcome
The article turns entirely on when the payment was made relative to when the obligation prescribed or became illegal. A payment made before prescription set in, or before the obligation became illegal, is not what this article addresses — the ordinary right to reimbursement among solidary debtors would still apply to that. It is specifically a payment made after that point that loses the right to reimbursement under this provision.
The reasoning behind cutting off reimbursement
Once an obligation has prescribed, the creditor no longer has a legal means to compel payment — the debt survives only as something the debtor may voluntarily choose to honor. A solidary debtor who pays anyway is not discharging a legally enforceable obligation on behalf of the group; they are making a choice the law no longer required of anyone. Article 1218 treats that choice as personal to the paying debtor, rather than as something the co-debtors must now help shoulder.
What this means before you pay on an old debt
If you are a solidary debtor being asked to pay an obligation that may already be old enough to have prescribed, it is worth establishing whether prescription has in fact already run before paying, since Article 1218 means that paying after that point forecloses reimbursement from your co-debtors entirely. Confirming the date the obligation became due, and the prescriptive period that applies to it, is what determines whether a payment you make still carries the right to recover shares from the others.
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.
- Rosary Kristine I. Anido vs. Republic of the Philippines, G.R. No. 253527, October 21, 2024 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Diamond Builders Conglomeration, et al. vs. Country Bankers Insurance Corp, G.R. No. 171820, December 13, 2007 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Romeo C. Garcia vs. Dionisio V. Llamas, G.R. No. 154127, December 8, 2003 — read the decision on LawPhil →