Title
Tortal vs. Taniguchi
Case
G.R. No. 212683
Decision Date
Nov 12, 2018
A final judgment nullified Tortal and Taniguchi's marriage, declaring her sole owner of disputed property. Tortal's appeal failed; res judicata barred relitigation. SC upheld Taniguchi's ownership, nullifying levy and sale.
nullity of marriage
appeal
compromise agreement

Case Summary (G.R. No. 212683)

Factual Background: Nullity of Marriage and Declaration of Exclusive Ownership

On August 25, 2003, the Regional Trial Court in Civil Case No. CV-00-0149 granted Taniguchi’s petition and annulled the marriage between Tortal and Taniguchi. In the same decision, the Regional Trial Court declared the house and lot to be Taniguchi’s exclusive property. Tortal did not seek reconsideration, so the decision became final and executory on October 14, 2005.

While the nullity proceedings were pending, Sales filed a collection complaint against Tortal, docketed as Civil Case No. C-1262, raffled to Branch 63, Regional Trial Court, Calauag, Quezon. Sales and Tortal later entered into a compromise agreement, approved by the Regional Trial Court of Calauag. As a consequence of that compromise judgment, the property was levied on December 3, 2003 and sold at a public auction to Sales for P3,500,000.00.

Taniguchi’s Suit to Nullify the Levy and Sale, and the RTC’s October 28, 2011 Decision

On May 24, 2005, Taniguchi filed a complaint for reivindication of title, annulment of levy and sale in execution, injunction, damages, and attorney’s fees against Tortal and Sales. The case was docketed as Civil Case No. 05-0198 and raffled to Branch 257, Regional Trial Court, Paranaque City. She sought, among others, an injunction against the Register of Deeds of Paranaque City and the declaration that the levy over and the sale of the house and lot were null and void.

On September 14, 2005, the Regional Trial Court granted Taniguchi’s application for injunction and enjoined the Register of Deeds of Paranaque City from cancelling TCT No. 142089 and from issuing a new certificate of title in Sales’s favor. On October 28, 2011, the Regional Trial Court granted Taniguchi’s case in a decision that made the preliminary injunction permanent, declared the levy and public auction sale, as well as the certificate of sale, null and void, and ordered Tortal to pay Taniguchi moral damages, exemplary damages, attorney’s fees, and costs of suit.

Appeals and the Court of Appeals’ Rulings

Tortal and Sales appealed the October 28, 2011 decision. On December 13, 2013, the Court of Appeals denied the appeal and affirmed the Regional Trial Court. The Court of Appeals rejected Tortal’s claims regarding supposed defects in the August 25, 2003 decision that annulled his marriage. It emphasized that the decision had become final and executory. It likewise rejected Tortal’s assertions that Taniguchi lacked capacity to acquire property because of her supposed foreign citizenship. The Court of Appeals noted that Tortal did not raise Taniguchi’s citizenship during pre-trial and only raised the matter for the first time on appeal. Further, it stressed that Tortal should have challenged the August 25, 2003 decision through the proper remedy, namely a petition for annulment of judgment, instead of contesting the levy and sale in that case. It also held that the time for filing a petition for annulment of judgment had long passed. On May 14, 2014, the Court of Appeals denied Tortal’s motion for reconsideration.

The Petition Before the Supreme Court and the Core Issues

In his Petition for Review on Certiorari, Tortal insisted that the Regional Trial Court’s August 25, 2003 decision was null and void because of alleged lack of jurisdiction stemming from improper service of summons—specifically, he claimed there was no valid personal or substituted service by publication. He also asserted that Taniguchi’s foreign citizenship barred her from owning real property under Philippine law. Lastly, he argued that the issue of Taniguchi’s capacity to own real property was impliedly included or inferable from the issues raised before the Regional Trial Court during pre-trial.

Taniguchi countered that the August 25, 2003 decision granting the nullity of the marriage and recognizing her exclusive ownership had long attained finality as early as October 14, 2005. She also maintained that the citizenship issue had not been brought up before the Regional Trial Court and that Tortal did not explain how the pre-trial order impliedly included the issue of her lack of capacity.

The Supreme Court thus narrowed the controversy to whether Tortal could assail the final and executory judgment nullifying his marriage in his appeal of the Court of Appeals’ decision affirming the nullification of the levy and sale.

Remedy for Lack of Jurisdiction: Rule 47 as the Proper Independent Action

The Supreme Court held that an allegation of a trial court’s lack of jurisdiction to render the assailed judgment, final order, or resolution must be brought through a separate action for annulment of judgment under Rule 47 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. It reasoned that if summons was truly not properly served on Tortal, then his remedy was not to attack the nullity judgment indirectly in an appeal concerning the levy and sale. Instead, he should have resorted to Rule 47.

The Court explained that annulment of judgment is an equitable recourse that is independent of the case and is allowed only in exceptional circumstances, such as when there is no longer any more available or adequate remedy. It also recognized that a Rule 47 petition may be given due course only when it is sufficiently proven that ordinary remedies of new trial, appeal, petition for relief, or other appropriate remedies were no longer available through no fault of the petitioner.

Limitations Under Rule 47: Grounds, Timing, and the Irrelevance of Indirect Attack

The Supreme Court further discussed the limiting structure of Rule 47. It noted that Rule 47, Section 2 provides only two grounds for annulment of judgment: extrinsic fraud and lack of jurisdiction. It also emphasized that extrinsic fraud cannot qualify as a ground when it was or could have been availed of in a motion for new trial or a petition for relief. Under Rule 47, Section 3, an action based on extrinsic fraud must be filed within four years from discovery, while an action based on lack of jurisdiction must be filed before the action is barred by laches or estoppel.

Applying these principles, the Supreme Court rejected Tortal’s approach. It observed that Tortal alleged that respondent deliberately indicated a non-existent address so that he never received summons and the trial court never acquired jurisdiction. However, rather than directly assailing the August 25, 2003 decision via Rule 47, Tortal chose to raise the issue in his appeal of the October 28, 2011 decision, which involved annulment of levy and sale. The Supreme Court characterized this as the wrong remedy.

Effect of Finality and Res Judicata on the Ownership Determination

The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ view that, absent a ruling from the Court of Appeals nullifying the August 25, 2003 decision, that decision remained valid and subsisting. It stressed that the August 25, 2003 nullity judgment had become final and executory on October 14, 2005. Consequently, the determination that Taniguchi was the established exclusive owner of the house and lot stood.

The Court agreed with the appellate court’s assessment that Tortal should not relitigate the ownership issue in the levy-and-sale case. The Court of Appeals had underscored the principle of res judicata, explaining that a matter adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction becomes finally and conclusively settled when it arises in a subsequent litigation between the same parties and for the same cause. Thus, the dispute on ownership was deemed put to rest once the August 25, 2003 decision attained finality.

Because respondent was the established exclusive owner, the Supreme Court held that lower courts did not err in granting Taniguchi’s petition to nullify the levy and public auction sale conducted to satisfy Tortal’s indebtedness with Sales. The Supreme Court also rec

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