Facts:
COMPANA GENERAL DE TABACOS DE FILIPINAS (plaintiff and appellant) claimed registered ownership of a sugar plantation known as the
“Velez-Malaga”, located in the barrio of
La Castellana, municipality of
Pontevedra, Province of
Occidental Negros, comprising
three hundred seventy-nine hectares, twenty ares, and thirty-two centares. The parties agreed that
Tomas R. de Leon was the original owner of the hacienda and that the
sixty hectares in dispute were part of it. On
May 7, 1889, De Leon sold the plantation, including the sixty hectares, to
Jose Domingo Frias; on
July 18, 1898, De Leon ratified the sale. Both instruments were registered on
October 3, 1898. On
June 12, 1900, Frias sold the hacienda, including the sixty hectares, to
Manuel Giner, and the deed was registered on
September 29, 1900. On
May 5, 1908, Giner sold the property to the plaintiff company, and this deed was registered on
August 11, 1908. Separately, in
1885,
Marcelo Corteza commenced an action in the Court of First Instance of Occidental Negros against
Tomas R. de Leon to recover
P2,175 with interest on a promissory note. Because of the action, an order of attachment was issued on
March 20, 1885, levied upon
one hundred hectares of the hacienda. On
June 28, 1889, judgment was rendered in Corteza’s favor for
P2,175 with interest and costs, and the judgment remained unsatisfied. On
May 25, 1907,
Jose Felix Martinez purchased Corteza’s interest in the judgment. On petition of Martinez, the Court of First Instance issued, on
July 24, 1908, an execution directing the sheriff to satisfy the judgment out of De Leon’s property. Acting under this execution, the sheriff took possession on
August 31, 1908 of the attached one hundred hectares and advertised them for sale. The plaintiff company served written notice claiming ownership. Martinez, as judgment creditor, filed an indemnity bond; the sheriff then sold at public auction
sixty of the one hundred hectares, for
P2,632.07, with
Ricardo Nolan as highest bidder. The plaintiff company filed, on
September 19, 1908, an action in the Court of First Instance against
Jose Felix Martinez, the sheriff, and
Ricardo Nolan, seeking recovery of the sixty hectares sold. The lower court, by judgment dated
July 3, 1909, dismissed the action with costs. The plaintiff appealed.
Issues:
Whether the Court of First Instance could enforce the
1889 final judgment by issuing execution and selling the land in
July 1908, despite more than five years having elapsed since the judgment became enforceable under the
Code of Civil Procedure.
Ruling:
Ratio:
Doctrine: