Title
Pasion vs. Melegrito
Case
G.R. No. 166558
Decision Date
Mar 28, 2007
A tenant sought to halt a demolition order issued in a forcible entry case against her sisters, claiming ownership of the structure. Courts denied her injunction, ruling her claim barred by estoppel and the finality of the prior judgment.
forcible entry
complaint
injunction
A

Case Summary (G.R. No. 166558)

Facts underlying Civil Case No. 1243-99 and MCTC findings

Respondent Melegrito filed a forcible entry complaint alleging that the Bueno sisters constructed a two-story concrete residential structure on his land in Nilasin, Pura, Tarlac, without his knowledge or consent, and that they retained possession despite notice and demand. The 5th Municipal Circuit Trial Court (MCTC) found for the respondent and ordered the defendants to vacate or remove the improvements, awarded attorney’s fees, monthly rental damages from February 1999, and costs.

Procedural history: appeals and reinstatement of MCTC judgment

RTC and Court of Appeals rulings

On appeal the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 63, initially set aside the MCTC judgment and dismissed the case on 13 December 1999. The RTC denied respondent’s motion for reconsideration. The respondent then sought review before the Court of Appeals, which on 16 June 2000 reversed the RTC and reinstated the MCTC judgment in its entirety. Execution proceeded thereafter.

Execution and writs of demolition

Enforcement steps: writ of execution and demolition

Following remand, the MCTC granted the respondent’s motion for execution, leading to issuance of a writ of execution on 28 June 2001. After the Bueno sisters failed to comply, the MCTC granted a writ of demolition on 24 January 2002; an alias writ of demolition was issued 12 September 2002 directing the sheriff to demolish the improvements constructed by the Bueno sisters.

Petitioner’s separate action seeking injunctive relief

Petitioner’s Complaint for Injunction, TRO, and evidentiary claims

On 4 November 2002 petitioner Nora Bueno Pasion filed a separate Complaint for Injunction (Civil Case No. 9420) in RTC Branch 65 seeking to restrain enforcement of the writ of demolition. She asserted she was a bona fide agricultural tenant who owned and actually occupied the house (a reconstructed old family house) sought to be demolished, and offered a building permit and a tax declaration to prove ownership. The RTC granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) for the maximum twenty days but denied a preliminary injunction on 10 December 2002.

Petitioner’s certiorari to the Court of Appeals and CA decision

Certiorari petition and Court of Appeals denial

Petitioner filed a certiorari petition under Rule 65 to the Court of Appeals, alleging grave abuse of discretion by the RTC judge for allowing enforcement of the demolition writ against a non-party and for finding she was not the owner. The Fifth Division of the Court of Appeals denied the petition for lack of merit on 5 May 2004, reasoning that the MCTC and appellate findings showed the house was erected by the Bueno sisters, not petitioner; that preliminary injunctions are provisional and rest within trial court discretion; and that factual determinations required to support petitioner’s claim were not proper in certiorari review.

Issue presented to the Supreme Court

Central legal question on review

The central issue before the Supreme Court was whether it was tenable for the trial court to deny petitioner’s application for a writ of preliminary injunction to enjoin enforcement of a writ of demolition issued in another case (Civil Case No. 1243-99) to which petitioner was not a party.

Supreme Court’s analysis: effect of ejectment judgments on non-parties and enumerated exceptions

Ejectment as in personam and exceptions binding non-parties

The Court reiterated that an ejectment action is essentially in personam and ordinarily binds only parties properly impleaded and given opportunity to be heard. The Court recognized established exceptions where even a non-party may be bound by an ejectment judgment: (a) trespasser, squatter, or agent of defendant; (b) guest or occupant of the premises with the defendant’s permission; (c) transferee pendente lite; (d) sublessee; (e) co-lessee; and (f) member of the family, relative, or privy of the defendant. The Court found it undisputed that petitioner fell under exception (f) because she was a relative (sister) of the Bueno sisters.

Supreme Court’s analysis: petitioner’s knowledge, failure to assert rights, and estoppel

Equitable estoppel and petitioner’s delay or silence

The Court emphasized petitioner’s knowledge of the pendency of Civil Case No. 1243-99 and noted that the judgment itself acknowledged her attendance at hearings with a representative of her sisters. The Court held that petitioner’s delay in asserting ownership—only presenting her claim after the alias writ of demolition had issued and years after the forcible entry action commenced—amounted to conduct giving rise to equitable estoppel (estoppel in pais). Citing Rule 131, Section 2(a) and Civil Code doctrines, the Court explained that by silence or omission when she ought to have spoken, petitioner induced the respondent to believe she had no interest beyond tenancy; respondent acted on that belief; and therefore petitioner is precluded from asserting ownership to defeat the writ of execution and demolition.

Supreme Court’s analysis: finality of judgment and right to execution; standard for preliminary injunction

Finality, ministerial duty to execute, and injunction prerequisites

The Court noted that the judgment in Civil Case No. 1243-99 had become final and executory, invoking Section 1, Rule 39 of the Rules of Court that execution shall issue as a matter of right and that issuance of execution is a m

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