G.R. No. 246096 - SPOUSES BENNY AND NORMITA ROL, VS. ISABEL URDAS RACHO,*.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

accordingly declared, inter alia , that the sale of Lot No. 1559 to petitioners Spouses Benny and Normita Rol (petitioners) is valid only insofar as half of the aggregate undivided interest of Fausto Urdas, Sr. (Fausto), Chita Urdas (Chita), and Maria Urdas Baclig (Maria) therein are concerned. The Facts Respondent Isabel Urdas Racho (Isabel) alleged that her brother, Loreto Urdas (Loreto), was the registered owner of a 1,249-square meter (sq. m.) parcel of land located in the Municipality of Gonzaga, Cagayan, denominated as Lot No. 1559, as reflected in Original Certificate of Title No. O-1061. [6] On August 6, 1963, Loreto died without an issue, thus, leaving his siblings, namely, Fausto, Chita, Maria, and Isabel as his intestate heirs to the said lot. Sometime before the filing of the complaint, Isabel discovered that: (a) Lot No. 1559 was subdivided into equal 624.50-sq. m. portions, denominated as Lot Nos. 1559-A and 1559-B; (h) despite Loreto's death in 1963, petitioners made it appear that Loreto sold to them the subdivided lots through a Deed of Absolute Sale of Portion of Registered Land [7] dated September 1, 2006 and Deed of Sale of a Portion of Land [8] dated June 19, 2012, respectively; and (c) in light of the execution of said deeds, new titles covering the subdivided lots, namely, Transfer Certificates of Title (TCT) Nos. T-156992 [9] and 032-2012004566 [10] were issued in petitioners' names. As such, Isabel was constrained to file a complaint [11] for reivindicacion and damages before the RTC against, inter alia , petitioners. [12] In their Answer with Counterclaim, [13] petitioners asserted that sometime in 1993, they were looking to purchase a parcel of land. Coincidentally, petitioners were able to meet Fausto's wife and son, namely, Leoncia, [14] and Allan, who offered to sell them one-half of Lot No. 1559 for P25,000.00, to which they agreed. Thus, on September 13, 1993 Fausto, Chita, Maria, and Allan executed an Extra-Judicial Settlement with Sale [15] (EJSS) concerning the subject lot whereby: ( a ) the subject lot was subdivided equally into two (2) 624.50-sq. m. portions, denominated as Lot Nos. 1559-A and 1559-B; ( b ) Lot No. 1559-A was adjudicated to Fausto, Chita, and Maria, who then sold the same to petitioners for the aforementioned amount; and ( c ) Lot No. 1559-B was adjudicated to Allan. Thereafter, petitioners built a house on Lot No. 1559-A and occupied the same peacefully. In 2010, petitioners purchased from Allan and Leoncia Lot No. 1559-B, for which they executed a Deed of Sale of a Portion of Land [16] dated September 26, 2011. According to petitioners, they have been in open, continuous, and peaceful possession of Lot No. 1559-A since 1993 and Lot No. 1559-B since 2010, until Isabel disturbed the same by filing the instant complaint in June 2013. [17] The RTC Ruling In a.Decision [18] dated July 8, 2015, the RTC ruled in Isabel's favor, and accordingly, declared null and void the following: ( a ) the EJSS