Case Digest (G.R. No. 159310)
Facts:
Camilo F. Borromeo v. Antonietta O. Descallar, G.R. No. 159310, February 24, 2009, Supreme Court First Division, Puno, C.J., writing for the Court.Petitioner Camilo F. Borromeo (petitioner) sued respondent Antonietta O. Descallar (respondent) for recovery of real property before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Mandaue City, alleging that the true buyer and owner of three parcels of land and the house thereon was an Austrian national, Wilhelm Jambrich, who later conveyed his rights to petitioner by a Deed of Absolute Sale/Assignment dated July 11, 1991. Petitioner claimed respondent never paid for the lots and that Jambrich in fact funded the purchase; respondent maintained she paid the purchase price from her copra business and that Jambrich, as an alien, could not hold title.
The antecedent events began when Jambrich, an Austrian, arrived in the Philippines in 1983, met respondent (then a separated waitress and mother of two) in Cebu, and thereafter moved in with her. Contracts to Sell dated November 18, 1985 and March 10, 1986 and a Deed of Absolute Sale dated November 16, 1987 originally identified both Jambrich and respondent as buyers, but when the register of deeds refused registration of Jambrich’s name because he was an alien, his name was erased and Transfer Certificates of Title (TCT) Nos. 24790, 24791 and 24792 were issued solely in respondent’s name. Jambrich later adopted respondent’s two sons and executed a will bequeathing the properties to respondent.
Petitioner met Jambrich in 1986, supplied him goods on credit, and in 1989 accepted assignment of Jambrich’s rights over the Agro‑Macro properties to satisfy a P150,000 debt; when petitioner sought to register the assignment in 1991, he discovered the titles were already in respondent’s name and encumbered by mortgage. Petitioner filed suit in August 1991. At trial, the RTC found Jambrich to be the true source of funds and the owner, credited evidence including Jambrich’s salary records, postdated checks in his name for installment payments, Jambrich’s signature on the deed, the DSWD home study and adoption records, and Jambrich’s will; the RTC declared petitioner owner and ordered cancellation of respondent’s TCTs and issuance of new titles in petitioner’s name, plus attorney’s fees and costs.
The Court of Appeals reversed in a decision dated April 10, 2002, concluding Jambrich “could not have transferred a property he has no title thereto” because the titles were in respondent’s name; the CA denied reconsideration. Petitioner then filed a...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Did the trial court correctly find that Wilhelm Jambrich, although an alien, was the true purchaser and owner of the subject properties and that petitioner acquired Jambrich’s rights by assignment?
- Does registration of title in Antonietta Descallar’s name and the constitutional prohibition on alien ownership defeat petitioner’s claim, or does the subsequent transfer to a Filipino cure the initial defect?
- Does the presumption of co‑ownership between cohabitin...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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