G.R. No. 124171 - Merciales vs. Court of Appeals

A&A Swiss International Commercial, Inc. (A&A Swiss) owned a 3,616 sqm parcel in Barrio Kiot, Cebu City, covered by TCT No. 111078.
To secure Move Overland Venture and Exploring, Inc.’s (Move Overland) credit purchases, A&A Swiss mortgaged the property to Dura Tire & Rubber Industries, Inc. (Dura Tire) with a special power to extrajudicially foreclose upon default.

On June 5, 1992, A&A Swiss sold the property to Makilito B. Mahinay (Mahinay) for ₱540,000; Mahinay acknowledged the existing mortgage and liability for Move Overland’s obligations.
On August 21, 1994, Mahinay requested Move Overland’s account statement from Dura Tire to redeem the mortgage, but Dura Tire did not respond.

Dura Tire applied for extrajudicial foreclosure on January 6, 1995. Mahinay filed a third-party claim, but Sheriff Romeo Laurel proceeded with the sale.
On February 20, 1995, the property was sold to Dura Tire for ₱950,000 and the Certificate of Sale was registered that day.

Mahinay filed a complaint for specific performance and annulment of the foreclosure sale on March 23, 1995, arguing lack of supply proof and denial of redemption opportunity.
The Regional Trial Court (RTC) dismissed; the Court of Appeals (CA) reversed and remanded; the RTC again dismissed; the CA, on June 16, 2006, affirmed the RTC, ruling Mahinay, as substitute mortgagor, had no right to question the sale. The Supreme Court (SC) denied review and finality occurred on August 8, 2007.

On August 24, 2007, Mahinay filed a complaint for judicial declaration of right to redeem, contending the one-year redemption period was tolled by his annulment suit or should run from SC finality.
On April 13, 2010, RTC Branch 20 granted judgment on the pleadings, holding Mahinay had the right to redeem but his one-year period had lapsed, and dismissed the complaint. The RTC denied reconsideration on September 2, 2010.

Whether filing a complaint to annul the extrajudicial foreclosure sale tolled the one-year statutory redemption period under Section 6 of Act No. 3135.
Whether the one-year period of redemption should be counted from the date the CA decision became final and executory (August 8, 2007) rather than from registration of the Certificate of Sale (February 20, 1995).