Demetrio Alcantara v. Republic of the Philippines, et al.

Ruling

Accordingly, a review of the allegations is proper in order to determine the real nature of the cause of action pleaded in the complaint. The complaint pertinently alleges as follows: 11. That the above-described real property was purchased by the plaintiff with his hard-earned money on installment basis from its former owner with the plan to put up his own residential house thereon where he could spend the rest of his life upon his return from the United States of America after retirement; Thus before he left Davao City for the United States of America in August 1985 he had it titled in his name in order that he could " rest secure, without the necessity of waiting in the portals of the court, or sitting in the mirador de su casa to avoid the possibility of losing his land ." [Registration of Land Titles and Deeds, by Narciso Peña, p. 24] 12. That the plaintiff's ownership of the above-described real property is evidenced by a Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-113015 issued in his name by the Register of Deeds of Davao City, a machine copy of which is attached hereto as ANNEX "A" to form part hereof; 13. That being the absolute owner of the above-described property, the plaintiff [thru his authorized representative] has religiously paid the corresponding realty taxes therefor and this fact is evidenced by the following Official Receipts of the Republic of the Philippines issued to the plaintiff during the last five years [from 1992 to 1996 ], to wit: 13.1 Official Receipts Nos. 4629172 Q and 4628422 Q all dated 1-17-96 machine copies of which are attached hereto as ANNEXES "B" and "B-1" ; 13.2 Official Receipts Nos. 8671852 P and 8669352 P all dated 3-27-95 machine copies of which are attached hereto as ANNEXES "C" and "C-1" ; 13.3 Official Receipts Nos. 7533667 P and 7532042 P all dated 3-29-94 machine copies of which are attached hereto as ANNEXES "D" and "D-1" ; 13.4 Official Receipt No. 3863896 P dated 3-18-93 a machine copy of which is attached hereto as ANNEX "E" ; and 13.5 Official Receipt No. 7519929 O dated 3-17-92 a machine copy of which is attached hereto as ANNEX "F" to form part hereof; 14. That however, when the plaintiff [thru his authorized representative] wanted to pay the realty tax for this year [1997] for the above-described property, his payment was not accepted by the office of the Davao City Assessor for the reason that the owner of the said property is no longer the plaintiff but a certain MAXIMO LAGAHIT - which fact brought shock waves to the plaintiff; 15. That upon hearing the shocking information that his above-described property is already owned by a certain MAXIMO LAGAHIT, the plaintiff caused the verification of the existence of his aforesaid TCT No. T-113015 with the Office of the Register of Deeds of Davao City and he was surprised to find out that it was cancelled on 5-18-93 by the Register of Deeds of Davao City without giving him due process of law and a new TCT No. T-195677 was issued in the name of the Rep