Title
De Jesus vs. Court of Appeals
Case
G.R. No. 57092
Decision Date
Jan 21, 1993
Heirs of Santiago de Jesus claimed ownership of a Bulacan lot by hereditary succession, disputing a 1932 sale with right to repurchase. SC ruled in their favor, invalidating the sale and rejecting acquisitive prescription claims.
residential lot
rightful owners
contract of sale

Case Summary (G.R. No. 57092)

Factual Background

The dispute concerned a residential parcel in Dampol 2nd, Pulilan, Bulacan, bounded by a vereda on the north, the provincial road on the south, Catalino Tayag on the east, and Macario de Leon on the west, containing 2,565 square meters and covered by Tax Declaration No. 2383 in the name of Victoriano Felipe (Exh. "5-C"). Petitioners alleged that the lot belonged to their grandfather, Santiago de Jesus, and that they inherited title by hereditary succession. Private respondent traced her claim to a notarized contract of sale with right of repurchase, the Kasulatang-Biling-Mabibiling-Muli (Exh. "1") dated November 25, 1932, by which vendors identified as heirs of Catalino Esguerra purportedly sold the parcel to spouses Victoriano Felipe and Guillerma de la Cruz; private respondent asserted that the vendors failed to repurchase and that she subsequently obtained adjudication as heir (Exh. "4") and paid taxes in her name.

Trial Court Proceedings

The trial court, upon plenary consideration of witnesses and documentary exhibits, rendered judgment on September 7, 1975, declaring the plaintiffs (petitioners herein) to have the better right to ownership and possession of the residential lot by virtue of hereditary succession. The trial court ordered the defendant to surrender ownership and possession to the plaintiffs and awarded P500.00 for attorney’s fees and costs.

Court of Appeals Ruling

On appeal the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court in a decision promulgated December 24, 1980. The appellate court found that the disputed parcel was the subject of the 1932 Kasulatang-Biling-Mabibiling-Muli and that the purchasers, the parents of private respondent, possessed and lived on the land since the date of sale. The Court of Appeals dismissed the complaint and declared private respondent to be the absolute owner entitled to possession to the exclusion of the plaintiffs.

Issue Presented

The singular issue before the Supreme Court was whether the petitioners had the better right to ownership and possession of the residential lot by hereditary succession from Santiago de Jesus, or whether private respondent held absolute ownership through the 1932 sale and subsequent acts of ownership by her parents and by herself.

Parties’ Contentions and Evidence

Petitioners relied on testimony and tax declarations to prove that the lot belonged to their grandfather, Santiago de Jesus. They produced Tax Declaration No. 2384 (Exh. "A") in the name of Victoriano Felipe that nonetheless described the house as built on the "solar de Santiago de Jesus," and several witnesses testified to longstanding recognition in the community of Santiago’s ownership. Private respondent relied principally on the notarized contract of sale with right of repurchase (Exh. "1"), her sworn adjudication as sole heir (Exh. "4"), and a sequence of tax declarations and payment receipts in the names of Victoriano Felipe and later in her own name. Both parties subpoenaed the Office of the Provincial Assessor records and offered certified copies of various tax declarations.

Evidentiary Principles Applied

The Court acknowledged that a notarized private document acquires the character of a public document and enjoys a presumption of validity and authenticity in accordance with authorities such as Joson vs. Baltazar, 194 SCRA 114 (1991) and earlier precedents, and that the party challenging such recitals must overcome the presumption by clear and convincing proof (see Diaz vs. Court of Appeals, 145 SCRA 346 (1986)). The Court thus undertook a careful scrutiny of Exh. "1" and associated public records.

Court’s Examination of Tax Declarations and Documentary Chain

The Court analyzed the series of tax declarations offered in evidence. It observed that the Tax Declaration expressly mentioned in Exh. "1"—No. 5096 in the name of Catalino Esguerra—was not produced in the form and vintage required. The certified copy of Tax Declaration No. 5096 produced by petitioners (Exh. "G") covered 1948 and concerned a different owner, Teodoro Sinson. Other tax declarations in evidence showed that Tax Declaration No. 5326 in the name of Victoriano Felipe, commencing with 1939 (Exh. "5-C-1"), cancelled Tax Declaration No. 252 in the name of Catalino Esguerra (Exh. "3"), and that Tax Declaration No. 2383 beginning in 1948 (Exh. "5-C") covered the residential lot thereafter declared in the name of Victoriano Felipe. The Court concluded that the lot covered by Exh. "5" and Exh. "5-C-1" was not the lot described by Tax Declaration No. 5096 as referred to in Exh. "1"; hence the documentary link asserted by private respondent between Exh. "1" and the contested parcel was defective and that Tax Declaration No. 5096 was effectively inexistent at the time of the alleged 1932 sale.

Findings on the Authenticity of the 1932 Deed and Related Documents

The Court found substantial evidence casting doubt upon the genuineness of Exh. "1". Witnesses testified that Victoriano Felipe could neither read nor write and that he had a brother bearing a strong resemblance, thereby raising suspicion regarding the signature attributed to him on Exh. "1". The Court held that such strong, convincing, and conclusive proof warranted a finding of nullity and falsity of Exh. "1" as a reliable evidence of title (citing Legaspi vs. Court of Appeals, 142 SCRA 82 (1986)). Consequently, private respondent’s affidavit of adjudication (Exh. "4") adjudicating herself sole heir was deprived of evidentiary value because it rested upon the invalid deed and contained false averments, notably the misstatement that she was the only heir while her mother, Guillerma de la Cruz, remained alive at the time of execution.

Admissions, Tax Payments, and the Nature of Possession

The Court emphasized that Tax Declaration No. 2384, under which Victoriano Felipe declared his house to be located on the "solar de Santiago de Jesus," constituted an admission against interest recognizing Santiago’s ownership. The Court noted that tax receipts and declarations are not conclusive proof of ownership; they may support title by prescription only when accompanied by proof of actual possession. The testimonial record showed that Victoriano and his family had resided on the property by reason of marriage and tolerance in the household of Santiago’s family, and that the possession was neither exclusive nor in the concepto de dueño (in the concept of owner). The Court reiterated the principle that possession must be adverse and in the concept of owner to ground acquisitive prescription (see Ordonez vs. Court of Appeals, 188 SCRA 109 (1990); Coronado vs. Court of Appeals, 191 SCRA 814 (1990)).

Acquisitive Prescription Analysis

The Court reviewed the law on acquisitive prescription as applied to the facts. It recognized that under Section 41 of the old Code of Civil Procedure ten years of actual adverse possession could vest title, without requirement of good faith or just title, but that under the present Civil Code acquisitive prescription required ten years in good faith and thirty years in bad faith (see Article 1141). The Court found that private respondent’s claim to prescription could not succeed because the possession during the pertinent period was in bad faith and nonexclusive, and because the affidavit of adjudication was executed in 1961, well after the New Civil Code became effective; consequently the thirty-year period required for bad-faith possession had not elapsed when petitioners filed suit in 1973. The Court further observed that acts by private respondent, such as mortgaging the property and registering the mortgage and the affidavit, were indicative of her assertion of owner

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