G.R. No. 141820 - JOSE LUIS HAURIE, JOSE R. EBRO, JR., AND TREASURE LAND DEVELOPERS, INC., VS. MERIDIEN RESOURCES, INC., CENTURY PROPERTIES, INC., PIO MARTIN T. LAUENGCO, AND LE GRAND CONDOMINIUM CORPORATION.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, respondent Pio Martin Lauengco is hereby declared as the lawful owner of Condominium Unit No. 103 of Le Grand Condominium Project. On the counterclaim, judgment is hereby rendered ORDERING complainants to pay [respondents] Century Properties, Inc. and Pio Martin Lauengco jointly and severally the sum of P100,000.00 as and for moral and exemplary damages and the sum of P50,000.00 as and for attorney's [fees] . [6] Petitioners appealed to the Board of Commissioners-HLURB which affirmed the Decision of the OAALA-HLURB: WHEREFORE, premises considered , Meridien Resources, Inc. [MRI] is hereby pronounced as entitled to the award of damages and attorney's fees, all other aspects of the decision of the Office of Appeals, Adjudication and Legal Affairs dated 01 April 1993 are hereby AFFIRMED . [7] Upon elevation of the case to the Office of the President, the decision was also affirmed. The Office of the President noted that there were still no unit owners at the time MRI decided to alter the plans of the condominium project. Furthermore, the amended master deed was in consonance with the Alteration of Plan Approval issued by the HLURB. Absent any proof to the contrary, such approval is presumed to have been regularly issued and to be valid. Haurie, Ebro, and TLDI filed a petition docketed as CA-G.R. SP No. 52471 with the Court of Appeals where they impleaded LGCC as one of the respondents. However, the appellate court dismissed the appeal for failure of petitioners to attach certified true copies of the following documents: (1) verified complaint; (2) respondents' answers thereto; (3) decision of the OAALA-HLURB; (4) decision of the Board of Commissioners-HLURB; and (5) petitioners' appeal memorandum and respondents' reply memorandum in the Office of the President. Petitioners filed an Alternative Motion for Reconsideration or Motion for Time to File Required Papers or Motion for Transmittal or Elevation of Originals of Required Papers or Entire Record of Proceedings [8] dated October 13, 1999. Said motion was also denied by the appellate court. Hence, this petition. During the pendency of CA-G.R. SP No. 52471, Haurie, Ebro, TLDI, and LGCC filed another petition docketed as CA-G.R. SP No. 53254 which the Court of Appeals dismissed. The appellate court upheld the legality of the conversion and sale of the administration office since (1) there were still no unit owners at the time MRI decided to alter the plans of the condominium project; (2) the amended master deed, stating that there were 3 commercial/office units in the ground floor, was annotated in LGCC's title; (3) the amended master deed was in consonance with the Alteration of Plan Approval issued by the HLURB. [9] Reconsideration having been denied, petitioners filed a petition docketed as G.R. No. 164999 with this Court. On December 1, 2004, the Court denied the petition since: (1) only one of the petitioners signed the verification; and (2) the petitioners failed to show that the C