Short answer. Yes, as to the creditor. The payment is in any case valid as to the creditor who accepted it, regardless of your knowledge or consent — though because the third person did not intend reimbursement, the payment is deemed a donation to you, and a donation still requires your consent to actually take effect as one.
What the law says
Payment made by a third person who does not intend to be reimbursed by the debtor is deemed to be a donation, which requires the debtor's consent. But the payment is in any case valid as to the creditor who has accepted it.
Civil Code, Article 1238 — Payment Intended as a Donation. Read the full provision →
The creditor's acceptance settles the debt, regardless of your consent
The statute draws a clear line between two relationships. As to the creditor, the payment is valid in any case once the creditor has accepted it — meaning your debt to that creditor is satisfied, and your knowledge or agreement was never a condition for that part of the transaction to work. The creditor who accepted the payment cannot later claim it was defective simply because you did not know about it.
But between you and the third person, it is treated as a donation
The same payment is characterized differently in your relationship with the person who paid it. Because that person did not intend to be reimbursed by you, the law deems the payment a donation to you — and a donation, as a legal act transferring value gratuitously, requires the debtor's consent to actually take effect as such between you and the payor.
Why the payment can be valid on one side and unsettled on the other
This split outcome makes sense once you separate the two relationships involved. The creditor only cares about being paid, and accepting the payment resolves that regardless of what arrangement exists between you and the third person. But whether that third person actually made you a gift — as opposed to, say, expecting reimbursement after all, or the payment being treated some other way between the two of you — depends on whether you actually consent to receiving it as a donation, since the law will not impose an unwanted gift on you.
What happens if you do not consent to the donation
If you never consent to treating the payment as a donation, the debt to the original creditor still remains extinguished, because that part of the rule does not depend on your consent. What remains open is the relationship between you and the person who paid — without your consent to a donation, that payment may instead be governed by other rules on payments made without a debtor's knowledge or authorization, rather than being settled simply as a gift you never agreed to accept.
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.
- Victoria Moreño-Lentfer, et al. vs. Hans Jurgen Wolff, G.R. No. 152317, November 10, 2004 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Edilberto U. Ventura, Jr. vs. Sps. Paulino and Evangeline Abuda, G.R. No. 202932, October 23, 2013 — read the decision on LawPhil →