Case Digest (G.R. No. 185240)
Facts:
Sps. Manuel and Victoria Salimbangon v. Sps. Santos and Erlinda Tan, G.R. No. 185240, January 21, 2010, Supreme Court Second Division, Abad, J., writing for the Court. The dispute concerns competing claims to an easement of right of way created in an extrajudicial partition among heirs and whether extrinsic testimony and consolidation of ownership extinguished that easement.The property at issue was a parcel in Poblacion, Mandaue City formerly owned by Guillermo Ceniza, who died in 1951. In an extrajudicial declaration of heirs and partition executed on July 17, 1973, his children (the heirs) divided the parcel into Lots A–E and, as part of their written partition, established perpetual gratuitous rights of way in 1.50-meter strips that together formed a 3-meter alley providing access to interior Lots D and E; the partition was annotated on the individual titles.
Subsequently the heirs modified the partition by cancelling some annotations and imposing a single 3-meter easement alley located entirely along the southwest boundary of Lot B, which led to the street. After this modification, Victoria Salimbangon exchanged lots with Benedicta and became owner of Lot A (a street-front lot); the Salimbangons built a house and two garages, one of which used the alley running on Lot B to reach the street and which they gated and cemented.
Later, Sps. Santos and Erlinda Tan purchased Lots B, C, D and E from the heirs and made improvements on Lot B that encroached into the alley; they also closed the Salimbangons’ gate. The Salimbangons complained to the City Engineer. The Tans filed Civil Case MAN-3223 in the Regional Trial Court (Branch 55), seeking extinguishment of the easement and damages with an application for preliminary injunction; the Salimbangons answered and counterclaimed.
On February 9, 2001 the RTC ruled in favor of the Salimbangons, upholding their easement over Lot B and denying damages. Both parties appealed to the Court of Appeals (raffled to the 19th Division as CA-G.R. CV 73468). On July 27, 2007 the Court of Appeals reversed: it admitted extrinsic testimony (notably that of one heir, Eduardo Ceniza) that the heirs’ true intent was t...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Did the Court of Appeals err in admitting extrinsic testimony (Eduardo Ceniza’s) that contradicts the written partition, in violation of the parol evidence rule?
- Did the Court of Appeals err in ruling that the easement of right of way established by the partition has been extinguished upon cons...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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