Case Digest (G.R. No. 152266)
Facts:
Heirs of Pedro de Guzman v. Angelina Perona and Heirs of Rosauro de Guzman; Bataan Development Bank; and Republic Planters Bank, G.R. No. 152266, July 02, 2010, Supreme Court Second Division, Peralta, J., writing for the Court.Petitioner Pedro de Guzman (represented here by his heirs) filed a complaint for reconveyance with an application for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on April 15, 1985, docketed as Civil Case No. 5247 before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Bataan. He sought reconveyance of a roughly 300-square-meter parcel where his house stood, claiming that respondents spouses Rosauro de Guzman and Angelina Perona obtained cancellation of Original Certificate of Title (OCT) No. 10075 and later caused subdivision and issuance of three Transfer Certificates of Title (TCTs) through fraud and bad faith.
The title history: OCT No. 10075 (issued July 25, 1933) covered about 3,242 sq. m.; after deaths of some heirs and a petition for a new owner's duplicate in 1950, an extrajudicial settlement dated October 16, 1952 led to cancellation of OCT No. 10075 and issuance of TCT No. T-3885, which was subsequently subdivided into TCT Nos. 78181, 78182 and 78183. TCT No. 78181 was registered in the names of the spouses Rosauro and Angelina and was mortgaged to Bataan Development Bank (BD Bank) on March 25, 1980 and later foreclosed and acquired by the bank; TCT No. 78182 was sold to private buyers in 1982 and replaced by TCT No. 105347; TCT No. 78183 was ultimately registered as T-92048 in the spouses’ names and mortgaged to Republic Planters Bank (RP Bank) in August 1982.
Pedro averred family lineage connecting him to the original owners and asserted that he had been adjudicated the 300-sq.m. parcel (including by a supposed document executed by Andrea). He alleged that BD Bank failed to investigate the true status of the land before accepting it as collateral and sought cancellation of titles affecting his house and payment of damages. Respondents Angelina and the heirs of Rosauro failed to answer and were declared in default; BD Bank and RP Bank filed answers denying cause of action and asserting good faith and due diligence.
The RTC dismissed the complaint in a Decision dated April 14, 1994. Pedro appealed to the Court of Appeals (CA), which dismissed the appeal in a Decision dated May 30, 2001 and denied reconsideration in a Resolution dated January 25, 2002. Pedro died while the case was pending; his heirs filed a Petition for Review on Certiorari under ...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- May petitioners raise for the first time on appeal the claim that they acquired the parcel by oral partition?
- Is Bataan Development Bank a mortgagee in bad faith when it accepted the property as collateral and la...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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