Case Digest (G.R. No. 164819)
Facts:
Jerty Pascual Contreras (Deceased), represented by her mother, Lourdes Pascual, petitioner, v. The Honorable Court of Appeals, Former Twelfth Division, and Spouses Danilo Alcantara and Isabelita Alcantara, G.R. No. 164819, March 09, 2007, the Supreme Court Second Division, Tinga, J., writing for the Court.The dispute arose from segregate ownership of a house and the land on which it stood. Around 1949 Eulalia Leis constructed the subject house on a parcel owned by Filomena Gatchalian; Leis manifested ownership by a tax declaration. The house was later mortgaged to the Rural Bank of Teresa (RBTRI) and acquired by foreclosure; in 1980 RBTRI sold the house to Leis’s daughter, Isabelita (Bumatay) Alcantara, evidenced by a deed of sale. The underlying land passed to spouses Felipe Matawaran and Ofelia Oliveros (the Matawarans), who in 1980 executed mortgage deeds with Capitol City Development Bank (CCDB) that described the mortgaged property as including a two-storey residential building.
CCDB foreclosed, acquired the mortgaged property in 1984 and obtained TCT No. 115486. Meanwhile, in July 1983 Isabelita and her husband Danilo Alcantara purchased an adjacent 76-sq.m. lot; by 1987 the Alcantaras rented out the lower floors of the house, and later the Contreras family occupied the house. From 1986 to 1990 CCDB sought buyers without success; in March 1990 CCDB and Contreras entered a Contract to Sell, and on November 13, 1990 CCDB executed a Deed of Absolute Sale conveying the subject land “together with the improvements existing thereon” to Contreras for P212,400.00.
The Alcantaras wrote CCDB claiming ownership of the house and asserting their preferential right to purchase under the Civil Code. In 1991 the Alcantaras filed a complaint in the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Antipolo (Civil Case No. 91-222) seeking annulment of the Deed of Absolute Sale; they impleaded Contreras (and her husband Renato), CCDB, and the Matawarans, and prayed that they be allowed to exercise their right of pre-emption and redemption under Article 1622 of the Civil Code, with a claim for damages.
During trial the Matawarans admitted that the Alcantaras owned the house and that the Matawarans had not represented ownership of the house to CCDB. Contreras died and was substituted by her parents, Francisco and Lourdes Pascual. On April 15, 1997 the RTC (Branch 71, penned by Executive Judge Felix S. Caballes) ruled for the Alcantaras: it affirmed their ownership of the house, ordered surrender of possession, declared the Deed of Absolute Sale of November 13, 1990 null and void as to the house, and ordered CCDB to convey Lot A‑4 covered by TCT No. 115486 to the Alcantaras upon payment of P212,400.00 (the amount to be returned to the Pascuals by the bank). The RTC applied Articles 1621 and 1622 and held the adjoining-owner pre-emption principle applicable.
Contreras appealed to the Court of Appeals. On August 30, 2002 the Court of Appeals (Former Twelfth Division) affirmed the RTC in toto, upholding the findings that the Alcantaras owned the house and that the right of pre-emption under Articles 1621–1622 applied. Petitioner then filed a petition for review to the Supreme Court. The petition raised two principal contentions: (1) that the copy of the Court of Appea...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Did the unsigned page in the copy of the Court of Appeals decision furnished to petitioner render the decision unsigned and void under Section 1, Rule 36 of the Rules of Civil Procedure?
- Did the RTC exceed its jurisdiction by ordering CCDB to reconvey the subject lot (together with improvements) to the Alcantaras upon payment of P212,400.00, i.e., did the trial court grant relief not pleaded or...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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