G.R. No. 171270 - People vs. Mangitngit

SPS. PEDRO ONG AND VERONICA ONG were the registered owners of Lot No. 18, Block 2, subdivision plan II of Rizal Park subdivision, Sta. Cruz, Manila, covered by TCT No. 218597, purchased from the spouses Emilio Magbag and Norma B. Pascual in 1994.
Adjacent to Lot No. 18 was Lot No. 17, about 109 sq. meters, covered by TCT No. 125063, registered under the name of Visitacion Beltran, grandmother of respondent Socorro Parel.

On May 25, 1995, SPS. PEDRO ONG AND VERONICA ONG filed an action for forcible entry against Socorro Parel before the Metropolitan Trial Court of Manila, Branch 15, docketed as Civil Case No. 148332.
Plaintiffs alleged that respondent, through strategy and stealth, constructed an overhang and hollow block wall along the common boundary that extended beyond Lot No. 17 into Lot No. 18, thereby depriving plaintiffs of possession of that portion; plaintiffs alleged discovery on August 23, 1994 after a resurvey; plaintiffs alleged various demands for removal, the last on December 19, 1994.
Defendant denied the allegations and claimed the overhang and hollow block wall existed since 1956 and lay within Lot No. 17.

The trial court ordered an ocular inspection; the Branch Clerk of Court was designated Commissioner; defendant engaged Geodetic Engr. Mariano V. Flotildes who made a relocation survey on November 28, 1995 in the presence of both parties.
The Commissioner's report stated the defendant's wall protruded 112 meters into plaintiffs' property; a window sill overhung by about 12 meter deep into plaintiffs' premises; the eaves of the main residential building extended into plaintiffs' premises.
The Geodetic Engineer's Report confirmed the house encroached plaintiffs' property by 2.70 sq. m., and the adobe and hollow block wall by 1.59 sq. m., totaling 4.29 sq. m., more or less.
On April 12, 1996, the MTC rendered judgment for plaintiffs ordering removal of the overhang constructions measuring 2.70 sq. m. and the adobe block wall measuring 1.59 sq. m., peaceful surrender of possession, payment of Ten Thousand Pesos (P10,000.00) as attorney's fees, and costs of suit.

Defendant Socorro Parel appealed to the Regional Trial Court, docketed as Civil Case No. 96-78666.
On October 3, 1996, the RTC, Judge Hermogenes R. Liwag, reversed and set aside the MTC decision and dismissed the case for failure of plaintiffs to prove prior physical possession of the subject portion.
Spouses Ong moved for reconsideration; the RTC denied the motion in a resolution dated August 1, 1997.

SPS. PEDRO ONG AND VERONICA ONG filed a petition for review in the Court of Appeals.
On Decemb...(Subscriber-Only)

WHETHER OR NOT gaining entry without the knowledge or consent of the owner or remaining resident of another without permission is dispossession by stealth.
WHETHER OR NOT entry secured by strategy or stealth becomes unlawful and de facto possession commences only upon demand.
WHETHER OR NOT there is a distinction between forcible entry by means of stealth and forcible entry by means of force, intimidation, or threat.
WHETHER OR NOT petitioners can invoke Supreme Court rulings in unlawful detainer cases to support their claim.
WHETHER OR NOT the private respondent is the authorized party in the case of co-ownership as obtained in this case.
WHETHER OR NOT...(Subscriber-Only)