G.R. NO. 171250 - SPS. CARLOS AND EULALIA RAYMUNDO AND SPS. ANGELITO AND JOCELYN BUENAOBRA, VS. SPS. DOMINADOR AND ROSALIA BANDONG.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, premises considered, we hereby GRANT the appeal. The January 28, 1998 decision of the RTC, Branch 126, Caloocan City is hereby REVERSED and SET ASIDE and a new one entered: ANNULLING the Deed of Absolute Sale dated February 3, 1989 as a deed of sale, and considering it instead as a real estate mortgage of the disputed property to secure the payment of the P70,000.00 the plaintiffs-appellants spouses Bandong owe the defendants- appellees spouses Raymundo. The spouses Bandong are given one (1) year from the finality of this Decision within which to pay the P70,000.00 owed to the spouses Raymundo, at 12% interest per annum computed from July 17, 1991 until its full payment. ANNULLING the Deed of Absolute Sale dated September 25, 1990, between the spouses Raymundo as vendors and the spouses Buenaobra as vendees. ORDERING the Register of Deeds of Caloocan City to issue a new Transfer Certificate of Title covering Lot 18, Block 2 of the subdivision plan PSD 16599, a portion of Lot 1073 of the Cadastral Survey of Caloocan, in the names of the spouses Dominador and Rosalia Bandong, after the cancellation pursuant to this Decision of TCT No. 222871 currently in the names of the spouses Angelito and Jocelyn Buenaobra; and FURTHER ORDERING the said Register of Deeds to annotate in the new Transfer Certificate of Title in the names of the spouses Bandong a real estate mortgage in favor of the spouses Carlos and Eulalia Raymundo reflecting the terms of this Decision. AWARDING - moral damages in the amount of P50,000.00; exemplary damages of P20,000.00; and attorney's fees and expenses of litigation of P20,000.00, plus P500.00 per proven appearance of the plaintiffs-appellants' counsel in court - all solidarily payable by the spouses Carlos and Eulalia Raymundo and the spouses Angelito and Jocelyn Buenaobra, to the spouses Dominador and Rosalia Bandong. ORDERING the payment of the costs of the suit, payable by the spouses Carlos and Eulalia Raymundo and the spouses Angelito and Jocelyn Buenaobra. [4] The factual and procedural backdrop of this case are as follows: Eulalia was engaged in the business of buying and selling large cattle from different provinces within the Philippines. For this purpose, she employed "biyaheros " whose primary task involved the procuring of large cattle with the financial capital provided by Eulalia and delivering the procured cattle to her for further disposal. In order to secure the financial capital she advanced for the "biyaheros," Eulalia required them to surrender the Transfer Certificates of Title (TCTs) of their properties and to execute the corresponding Deeds of Sale in her favor. Dominador had been working for Eulalia as one of her biyaheros for three decades. Considering his long years of service without any previous derogatory record, Eulalia no longer required Dominador to post any security in the performance of his duties. [5] However, in 1989, Eulalia found that Dominador incurred shortage in his cattle p