G.R. NO. 154027 - SPOUSES RAMON AND ROSITA TAN, VS. GORGONIA BANTEGUI, REPRESENTED BY GUADALUPE B. BAUTISTA; AND SPOUSES FLORANTE AND FLORENCIA B. CAEDO.DECISION - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, finding no reversible error in the judgment appealed from, the same is AFFIRMED , with costs against [petitioners]." [4] The assailed Resolution denied petitioners' Motion for Reconsideration. The Facts The antecedents are related by the CA as follows: "The subject matter of the controversy is a 232 square-meter lot situated at No. 37-E Calavite St. La Loma, Quezon City, Metro Manila. Said piece of property was registered in the name of [Respondent] Gorgonia Bantegui (Bantegui for brevity), married to Jesus Bayot, under Transfer Certificate of Title [(TCT)] No. 47163 of the Register of Deeds of Quezon City, issued on May 6, 1959, and later reconstituted under [TCT] No. 28458. "Bantegui acquired the property sometime in 1954 and rented it to spouses Florante B. Caedo and Florencia B. Caedo (Caedos for brevity), who resided therein until 1994. In 1970, she left for the United States of America. She returned to the Philippines in January 1988 and executed her special power of attorney[,] making Guadalupe B. Bautista (Bautista for brevity) her representative, [after which], she went back to the United States. "Her taxes on the subject property were paid[,] but only until 1977. The real property taxes from the year 1978 to 1983 amounting to P3,034.99[,] inclusive of penalties, however, were not paid. "For failure of Bantegui to pay said taxes, the [c]ity [t]reasurer of Quezon City sold said property at public auction held on November 21, 1984, to the spouses Edilberto and Josefina Capistrano (Capistranos for brevity), for the sum of P10,000.00. The Certificate of Sale of Delinquent Property was subsequently issued in their favor on November 26, 1984. "Since the property was not redeemed within the one (1) year redemption period, title to said property was consolidated to the Capistranos and [TCT] No. 361851 was issued in their names on June 4, 1987. The Capistranos, however, did not take possession of the land [or inform] the Caedos about the sale or collected any rent from them. They[,] likewise[,] did not pay real property taxes thereon. "The property was later sold on June 20, 1988 by the Capistranos to spouses Evelyn and Jesse Pereyra (Pereyras for brevity) for P60,000.00. Their TCT was cancelled and a new [TCT] No. 2059 was issued on January 10, 1989 in the name of the Pereyras, who also did not take possession of the property in question. They, however, mortgaged the same to the Rural Bank of Imus, Cavite, which [mortgage] was annotated on the title of the property. "These transfers were unknown to Bantegui and the Caedos[,] despite the fact that Evelyn Pereyra is the daughter of the Caedos, as the latter did not inform them about anything concerning these transactions. All this time[,] the actual occupants, the Caedos, considered themselves as tenants of Bantegui, such that they paid rent to her until December 1993, when they handed the water pump as payment of their arrears. "Bantegui, on her part, applied for administrative reconst