G.R. No. 149121 - NATIONAL HOUSING AUTHORITY, VS. AUGUSTO BASA, JR., LUZ BASA AND EDUARDO S. BASA. D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

ACCORDINGLY, the motion for reconsideration is DENIED. [25] Undaunted, NHA filed on November 24, 1995, a special civil action for certiorari and prohibition before the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals rendered a Decision [26] dated February 24, 2000, in favor of the NHA. It declared null and void the assailed orders of the RTC dated January 2, 1995 and September 4, 1995, to the extent that the said orders admitted the petition in intervention and granted the issuance of the preliminary injunction; but it upheld the grant of the alias writ of possession, thus: WHEREFORE, the petition is GRANTED, and the assailed order of January 2, 1995 is declared NULL AND VOID except for the portion directing the issuance of an alias writ of possession. Likewise declared NULL AND VOID is the second assailed order of September 4, 1995 denying the petitioner's motion for reconsideration. Let an alias writ of possession be issued and executed/implemented by the public respondent without further delay. [27] The Court of Appeals defended its affirmation of the RTC's grant of the alias writ of possession in NHA's favor by saying that it was a necessary consequence after the earlier writ was left unserved to the party. It further explained that NHA was entitled to the writ of possession as a matter of course after the lapse of the redemption period. As to the RTC's admission of respondents' petition for intervention, the appellate court opined that it was improperly and erroneously made. The Court of Appeals believed that the only recourse available to a mortgagor, in this case the respondents, in a foreclosure sale is to question the validity of the sale through a petition to set aside the sale and to cancel the writ of possession, a summary procedure provided for under Section 112 of the Land Registration Act. It also observed that the grant of the preliminary injunction by the RTC was uncalled for as it would effectively defeat the right of NHA to possession, the latter having been entitled by virtue of the grant of the alias writ of possession. Respondents filed a motion for reconsideration. [28] They alleged that since they raised the issue that their right of redemption had not prescribed, said fact should have changed the whole scenario such that the issuance of a writ of possession ceased to be summary in nature and was no longer ministerial. Respondents then concluded that their right to redeem the properties against NHA's right to the writ of possession must be threshed out in a hearing of the case on its merits. With regard to the RTC Order dated August 4, 1992 granting the writ of possession which, according to the NHA, became final and executory, respondents argued that said order did not constitute res judicata so as to bar the filing of the petition for intervention since the said order was not a judgment on the merits that could attain finality. Also, respondents would like the Court of Appeals to treat the petition for intervention not only as an