Fact: The amended complaint states: "Earnest efforts towards (sic) have been made but the same have failed."
Issue: Under Article 151 of the Family Code, a suit between members of the same family shall not be entertained, unless it is alleged in the complaint or petition that the disputants have made earnest efforts to resolve their differences through compromise, but these efforts have not succeeded. The attempt to compromise as well as its failure or inability to succeed is a condition precedent to the filing of a suit between members of the same family. Rule 8, Section 3 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure provides that conditions precedent may be generally averred in the pleadings. Is there a sufficient general averment of the condition precedent required by Art. 151 of the Family Code?
Held: It is true that the lead sentence of paragraph 9-A, which reads Earnest efforts towards have been made but the same have failed may be incomplete or even grammatically incorrect as there might be a missing word or phrase, but to our mind, a lacking word like compromise could be supplied by the rest of the paragraph. A paragraph is a distinct section or subdivision of a written or printed composition that consists of from one to many sentences, forms a rhetorical unit (as by dealing with a particular point of the subject or by comprising the words of a distinct speaker). As a short composition consisting of a group of sentences dealing with a single topic, a paragraph must necessarily be construed in its entirety in order to properly derive the message sought to be conveyed. In the instant case, paragraph 9-A of the Amended Complaint deals with the topic of efforts made by the respondent to reach a compromise between the parties. Hence, it is in this light that the defective lead sentence must be understood or construed. Contrary to what petitioners claim, there is no need for guesswork or complicated deductions in order to derive the point sought to be made by respondent in paragraph 9-A of the Amended Complaint, that earnest efforts to compromise the differences between the disputants were made but to no avail. The petitioners stance that the defective sentence in paragraph 9-A of the Amended Complaint fails to state a cause of action, thus, has no leg to stand on. Having examined the Amended Complaint in its entirety as well as the documents attached thereto, following the rule that documents attached to a pleading are considered both as evidence and as part of the pleading, we find that the respondent has properly set out her cause of action. (Wee vs. Galvez, G.R. No. 147394. August 11, 2004)
