G.R. No. 134712 - MARIA CABOTAJE, AGUSTIN CABOTAJE, AMELIA TOMAS AND DANIEL PUGAYAN, VS. SPOUSES SOTERO PUDUNAN AND MARIA RIVERA.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed of the Honorable Court that, after notice and hearing, judgment be rendered in favor of the plaintiffs and against the defendants as follows, thus: a) Declaring as null and void Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-20808 and the deed of sale which caused the issuance thereof; b) Declaring plaintiffs as the lawful owners of the above-described landholding, and directing the Register of Deeds to issue another title in the names of said plaintiffs; c) Ordering defendants to pay actual damages to the plaintiffs equivalent to the monetary value of 2,440 cavanes (sic) of palay at 46 kilos per cavan; d) Granting the claim for damages: moral damages of P10,000.00 each for all the plaintiffs or a total of P40,000.00 and exemplary damages of P10,000.00; and e) Reimbursing attorneys fees of P7,000.00. PLAINTIFFS further pray for such other reliefs consistent with law and equity and available in the premises. [8] In their answer to the complaint, the respondents interposed the defense of prescription of action, to wit: That similarly the plaintiffs alleged cause of action to annul and cancel Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-20808 covering the parcels of land in question which had long legally belong to the defendants and which certificate of title lawfully, validly and regularly issued to the herein defendants on July 18, 1966 by the Register of Deeds of Nueva Vizcaya, in the absence of any plaintiffs allegation of fraud, mistake, intimidation, violence or undue influence as alleged reasons for its nullification and cancellation, the same is very true likewise to said plaintiffs seeking the nullification of the sale in favor of defendants, has also long prescribed and barred by the statute of limitations; [9] In the course of the presentation of the petitioners evidence, Cornelio Tubal from the Office of the Register of Deeds of Nueva Vizcaya testified on July 15, 1986 that TCT No. T-20808 was issued on the basis of a Confirmatory Deed of Sale [10] covering Lots 1 and 2 [11] which deed, on its face, contained intercalations and alterations. Subsequently, the petitioners, with prior leave of court, filed an amended complaint in which they alleged inter alia that they never received any amount by virtue of the altered Confirmatory Deed of Sale; that they turned over the owners duplicate copy of TCT No. T-1657 to the respondents as a sign of good faith on account of their P1,000-loan of which only P673.60 was received by them; that they discovered the existence of the altered Confirmatory Deed of Sale covering Lots 1 and 2 only on July 15, 1986; [12] and, that they never executed any deed of sale covering Lot 1, [13] nor received the amount of P2,000.00 as stated on the said deed of sale. The petitioners concluded that as such, the altered deed was null and void. The petitioners prayed that they be granted the following reliefs: WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed of the Honorable Court that, after notice and