G.R. No. 132497 - LUIS MIGUEL YSMAEL AND JOHANN C.F. KASTEN V VS. COURT OF APPEALS AND SPOUSES PACIFICO LEJANO AND ANASTACIA LEJANO.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, judgment is rendered directing defendants (herein private respondents) Pacifico Lejano and Anastacia Lejano to pay, jointly and severally, each of the plaintiffs (herein petitioners) the following: P120,000.00 with interest at 12% per annum from November 25, 1975, until fully paid; P120,000.00 with interest at 12% per annum from November 25, 1976, until fully paid; P120,000.00 with interest at 12% per annum from November 25, 1977, until fully paid; P115,620.00 with interest at 12% per annum from November 25, 1978, until fully paid; P50,000.00 for moral damages; P40,000.00 as exemplary damages; and P25,000.00 as attorney's fees and the costs of suit. The decision remained unexecuted for a long time as petitioners were unable to locate property belonging to private respondents. However, in 1989, before the right of action upon the judgment could prescribe, petitioners filed a case for the revival of the judgment in the Regional Trial Court, Branch 70, Pasig City, which on March 14, 1990, rendered a decision reviving the judgment in Civil Case No. 3039. Private respondents appealed to the Court of Appeals, but their appeal was dismissed in a resolution dated October 8, 1992 of the appellate court. Private respondents brought the matter to this Court which likewise dismissed private respondents' petition on January 11, 1993. Accordingly, on September 9, 1993, the trial court issued a writ of execution, as a result of which the rights, interests, and participation of private respondents in several parcels of lands, covered by TCT Nos. T-47699, T-50009, T-54010, T-50011, T-50391, T-50392, T-50393, T-50394, and 16274 of the Register of Deeds of Batangas, were levied on execution. On March 15, 1995, private respondents' rights, interests, and participation in said lands were sold at public auction to petitioners, represented by their counsel of record Atty. Fernando R. Arguelles, Jr., who offered the highest bid for P700,000.00. The sale to petitioners was registered in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Nasugbu, Batangas on July 25, 1995. The certificate of sale stated in pertinent parts: [3] The period of redemption of the real properties described above will expire one (1) year from and after the date of registration of this Certificate of Sale. It is hereby required of said highest bidder, that a statement of any amount of assessment or taxes which may have been paid on account of this purchase and such other liens chargeable to the redemptioners, with PROOF hereof, be submitted within thirty (30) days immediately preceding the expiration of the period of redemption, furnishing the defendants a copy thereof, as required by law, for purposes of computing the actual amount payable by the defendants in case of redemption. On July 16, 1996, private respondents' counsel wrote to petitioners' counsel Atty. Fernando R. Arguelles, Jr. and Deputy Sheriff Sofronio M. Villarin, informing them that private respondents were exercising their right o