Facts:
Frank N. Liu, Deceased, substituted by his surviving spouse Diana Liu, and children, namely: Walter, Milton, Frank, Jr., Henry and Jockson, all surnamed Liu, Rebecca Liu Shui and Pearl Liu Rodriguez, petitioners, versus
Alfredo Loy, Jr., Teresita A. Loy and Estate of Jose Vano, G.R. No. 145982, July 03, 2003, Supreme Court First Division, Carpio, J., writing for the Court.
In 1950
Jose Vano, through attorney-in-fact
Teodoro Vano, sold seven lots in the Banilad Estate (including Lot Nos. 5 and 6) to Benito Liu and Cirilo Pangalo under contracts to sell; Benito paid part of the price but left a balance. Teodoro later acknowledged he could not immediately transfer titles because of litigation over the testator’s will, and corresponded with
Frank Liu (Benito’s brother and successor-in-interest) about payment and delivery of titles in the 1950s–1960s. Benito and Pangalo eventually sold their purchase rights to Frank, who assumed the outstanding balances and repeatedly sought execution of deeds and titles (1966–1968).
On 19 August 1968 and 16 December 1969,
Teodoro Vano sold Lot No. 6 to
Teresita Loy and Lot No. 5 to
Alfredo Loy, Jr. respectively; their sales were entered in the Register of Deeds in 1969–1970. Frank filed an action for specific performance in Davao (Civil Case No. 6300) in December 1968 and recorded a notice of lis pendens in Cebu, but the Register of Deeds denied registration of the lis pendens. The Davao case was dismissed in October 1970 for lack of probate jurisdiction, and Frank filed his claim in the probate court in February 1972.
The probate court approved Frank’s claim on 24 February 1976 and Milagros Vano, administratrix of the Estate of Jose Vano, executed a deed of conveyance for the seven lots in favor of Frank on 5 March 1976. Thereafter, the probate court—on ex parte motions by the Loys—issued orders in March 1976 approving the earlier sales to the Loys; the Register of Deeds later cancelled the Estate’s titles and issued new TCTs to the Loys on 10 May 1976. Milagros moved for reconsideration and Frank filed reconveyance in the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 14, Cebu City (Civil Case No. R-15342) on 4 June 1976.
The RTC (Branch 14) on 8 April 1991 dismissed Frank’s complaint and confirmed what it viewed as Teodoro’s unilateral extrajudicial rescission of the 1950 contract, conditioning rescission on refund of one-half of Frank’s payments; the RTC also found the Loys to be purchasers ...
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Issues:
- Was prior approval of the probate court necessary to validate the sales of Lot Nos. 5 and 6 to the Loys?
- Did the lis pendens filed in the Davao case serve as notice to the Loys (and defeat their claims)?
- Were the Loys purchasers/registrants in good faith who could prevail over prior buyers such as Frank Liu?
- Was there a valid unilateral extrajudicial rescission of the contract to sell by Teodoro Vano?
- Are petitioners entitl...(Subscriber-Only)
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