Facts:

• Martin Enriquez and Damasa Ponseca filed a petition for intervention in Special Proceeding No. 1645 of the Court of First Instance of Bataan.
• This was their third petition for intervention, with the first two being denied in 1939 and 1946.
• The respondent Judge, Basilio Bautista, denied the petition for intervention in an order dated October 25, 1946.
• The order was sent to the petitioners' attorney via registered mail on the same date.
• The registered letter was returned as "UNCLAIMED" on December 3, 1946, after the addressee failed to claim it despite three notices issued by the Manila post office.
• On December 14, 1946, the Clerk of the Court of First Instance of Bataan remailed the same notice to the petitioners' attorney, who received it on January 6, 1947.
• The petitioners' new attorney filed a record on appeal on January 28, 1947, seeking to appeal the October 25, 1946 order.
• The respondent Judge disapproved the record on appeal on March 12, 1947, stating that it was filed out of time.
• The petitioners then filed a petition for mandamus, asking the Court to direct the respondent Judge to approve the record on appeal.

Issue:

• (Unlock)

Ruling:

• The Court dismissed the petition, ruling that the record on appeal was filed beyond the ...(Unlock)

Ratio:

• Service by registered mail is complete upon actual receipt by the addressee.
• If the addressee fails to claim the mail within five days from the date of the first notice from the postmaster, the service shall take effect at the expiration of such time.
• In this case, the registered letter containing the order in question was sent to the address given by the petitioners' attorney in the petition for intervention.
• The attorney did not claim the mail within the required time period, so the service took effect after the expiration of five days from the first notice.
• Therefore, the petitioners were deemed to have been serve...continue reading