Short answer. Real contracts. The Civil Code names deposit, pledge and commodatum, and the same rule covers a simple loan. Until the object is actually handed over, there is no contract yet — only a promise to enter into one, which produces a different and much weaker set of rights.
What the law says
Real contracts, such as deposit, pledge and commodatum, are not perfected until the delivery of the object of the obligation.
Civil Code, Article 1316 — Real Contracts. Read the full provision →
Most contracts are perfected by consent — these are the exception
The general rule in Philippine law is that a contract is born the moment the parties agree. A sale is perfected on the meeting of minds about the thing and the price; nothing has to change hands for the seller to be bound.
Article 1316 of the Civil Code carves out a small group that works differently. For a real contract, agreement alone produces nothing. The contract comes into existence only when the object is delivered. Consent is still necessary — it is simply not sufficient. Delivery is not performance of the contract here; it is the act that creates it.
The four that matter in practice
Deposit is where a person receives a thing belonging to another with the duty of safekeeping and returning it. Pledge is where movable property is placed in the creditor's possession as security for a debt. Commodatum is a free loan of a thing to be used and then returned — the very same thing, not an equivalent. A simple loan of money or other consumable goods follows the same pattern, because the borrower cannot owe repayment of what he never received.
In each of these, possession is the whole point of the arrangement. That is why the law makes the handover the moment of birth rather than a later obligation.
What happens if the thing is never delivered
This is the practical bite. If a bank approves a loan but never releases the money, there is no loan contract to enforce. If a creditor is promised a pledge but the item never leaves the debtor's hands, he holds no pledge and cannot claim the preference a pledgee enjoys over other creditors.
What may exist instead is an accepted promise to constitute the contract. A promise of that kind can be binding as a separate agreement, giving the disappointed party a claim for damages or, in some situations, an action to compel delivery. But it is not the real contract itself, and it does not carry the real contract's effects against third persons.
How to protect yourself
Document the handover, not just the agreement. A dated acknowledgment receipt, a deposit slip, photographs of the item and its serial number, or a delivery receipt signed by the person receiving it are what prove the contract exists at all. For a pledge, the writing showing the description of the thing and the date matters for the security to be effective against others.
Delivery can be actual or constructive — handing over the keys, the warehouse receipt or the documents of title can serve. Because the form of delivery can decide whether a security interest holds up against other creditors, have the arrangement reviewed by a lawyer before you part with money or property on the strength of a promise alone.