Case Digest (G.R. No. 76500)
Facts:
Spouses Aquilino Gatmaitan & Lilia Ayton and Spouses Emiliano Dealino and Teodora Gatmaitan, Petitioners v. The Court of Appeals (formerly IAC) and Sps. Donato Pascual and Rosita Cristobal, Respondents, G.R. No. 76500, August 02, 1991, Supreme Court Third Division, Feliciano, J., writing for the Court.
The dispute involves Lot No. 758, Baliuag, Bulacan (623 sq.m.), originally registered in the names of the deceased spouses Lorenzo Gatmaitan and Filomena Dela Cruz. In 1952 Aquilino Gatmaitan and his sister Emeteria Gatmaitan executed an extrajudicial partition and sale with right to repurchase in favor of Donato and Rosita Pascual (the Pascual spouses); the Pascual spouses took possession and improved the parcel. In 1956 Aquilino and his wife Lilia Ayton Gatmaitan were adjudicated the whole lot and received a new title.
Sometime in January 1970 the Gatmaitan spouses executed a document titled “Bilihang Tuluyan ng Lupa,” by which they conveyed absolutely to the Pascual spouses one-half (½) of Lot No. 758 for P500 (the instrument was not notarized or registered), and the Pascual spouses continued in actual possession of that half. On 17 January 1972 the Gatmaitan spouses sold the whole lot to neighbors Emiliano and Teodora Dealino (the Dealino spouses); this sale was registered and TCT No. 157176 issued in their names. Learning of the Pascual spouses’ possession in November 1972, Donato Pascual executed an Affidavit of Adverse Claim on 8 November 1972.
On 23 November 1972 the Dealino spouses reconveyed by instrument one-half of the lot back to the Gatmaitan spouses, and on 24 November 1972 the Gatmaitan spouses executed a Deed of Real Estate Mortgage over that one-half in favor of the Dealino spouses. The Pascual spouses then sued (30 April 1973) the Gatmaitan and Dealino spouses for reconveyance of the one-half portion and cancellation of the mortgage annotation.
The trial court, by decision dated 13 June 1982, found for the Pascual spouses, holding that their earlier sale and possession of the one-half portion prevailed and that the Dealino spouses had constructive notice and were in bad faith as neighbors and actual posse...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the registration of the sale of the whole Lot No. 758 in favor of the Dealino spouses transfer ownership of the entire lot, including the one-half portion earlier sold to the Pascual spouses?
- Had the Gatmaitan spouses effectively repurchased the whole lot from the Pascual spouses before selling it to the Dealino spouses, thereby defeating the Pascual spouses' claim?
- Was the “Bilihang Tuluyan ng Lupa” conveying one-half of the lot to the Pascua...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)