by: Mickey Ingles (originally published on Spin.ph)

No such thing as a free lunch, the saying goes. No such thing as free gas either, as we’ve obviously seen with the rising gas prices.

And apparently, no such thing as a promised lifetime supply of free fuel too, as seen in the recent controversy between Phoenix Petroleum and the camp of Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz.

The story began in the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. Hidilyn Diaz just made history as the first ever gold medalist for the Philippines. The accolades followed, so did the well-deserved rewards and incentives—one of which was a lifetime of free fuel from Phoenix Petroleum.

A “lifetime” which lasted until… 2022, at least according to Diaz’s manager Noel Ferrer.

In a public statement, Phoenix replied that “as with many corporate donations, such arrangements are guided by conditions, including brand alignment.” As Diaz had signed with another fuel brand, Phoenix could no longer continue the “fuel donation arrangement.”

In response to Phoenix, Ferrer had stated that no conditions or restrictions were ever communicated to Diaz’s team at the time the announcement of free-fuel-for-life had been made. The conditions on brand alignment, according to Ferrer, only popped up in 2022.

The back-and-forth has since died down, but with more of our athletes finding worldwide success and more brands and companies announcing donations and incentives (hello, Carlos Yulo and his lifetime supply of free ramen and chicken inasal), it’s a good time to take a look at what the law has to say about donations.

Donations are governed by the Civil Code of the Philippines.

A donation is defined as an “act of liberality where a person disposes gratuitously of a thing or right in favor of another, who accepts it.”

Contrary to popular belief, donations are not a one-way street—donations require the acceptance of the recipient or donee. In fact, the donation is only “perfected from the moment the donor knows of the acceptance by the donee.”

Acceptance (and the communication of such) is key because people can’t be forced to receive stuff they don’t want.

With Diaz getting the promised fuel in 2021 and 2022, it seems the “fuel donation arrangement” had already been perfected: she had accepted it and Phoenix had known of the acceptance.

And once the donation is perfected, the law only gives a few instances when it can be revoked without the consent of the donee.

One of these instances is when the donee fails to comply with the charges imposed in the donation, i.e. the conditions of the donation.

Again, according to Phoenix, it stopped the fuel donation arrangement with Diaz because the condition of brand alignment was not complied with. According to Diaz’s manager Noel Ferrer, there was no condition when the donation was announced after Diaz’s gold medal performance.

We can also assume from Ferrer’s statement that no conditions or obligations were set when Diaz had accepted and made known her acceptance to Phoenix when she claimed her fuel donations in 2021 and 2022.

Basing everything on the public statements of both Phoenix and Diaz’s manager Ferrer, it doesn’t seem that Phoenix could just revoke the “fuel donation arrangement” in 2022, as the donation had already been perfected without conditions in 2021 and therefore making it binding on the fuel providers.

An interesting wrinkle in all this is Article 748 of the Civil Code which requires donations of personal property (such as fuel) exceeding P5,000.00 and the acceptance of such donations to be in writing. If not, the donation shall be void.

As the statements of both Phoenix and Diaz’s manager Ferrer do not touch on the issue on whether the donation is void in the first place, then it may be safe to assume that some written documentation passed between Phoenix and Diaz’s camp to memorialize the fuel-for-life arrangement and its acceptance. Or Article 748 may have just been forgotten altogether, as poor Article 748 normally is.

By the look of things, it doesn’t seem that Diaz’s camp wants to push Phoenix for the free fuel but given the rising prices now, can anyone blame them if they do?

In any case, let’s all hope this issue is a one-off and doesn’t escalate into a situation where we’re all vehemently typing on our keyboards, “You took away our free gas, do not take away our free ramen too!”

Mickey Ingles is the editor-in-chief of Batas Sportiva.