G.R. No. 176405 - LEO WEE, VS. GEORGE DE CASTRO (ON HIS BEHALF AND AS ATTORNEY-IN-FACT OF ANNIE DE CASTRO AND FELOMINA UBAN) AND MARTINIANA DE CASTRO.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, premised considered, judgment is hereby rendered ordering the dismissal of this case. Costs against the [herein respondents]. On appeal, docketed as Civil Case No. A-2835, the RTC of Alaminos, Pangasinan, Branch 54, promulgated its Decision [11] dated 27 June 2005 affirming the dismissal of respondents' Complaint for ejectment after finding that the appealed MTC Decision was based on facts and law on the matter. The RTC declared that since the original agreement entered into by the parties was for petitioner to pay only the sum of P9.000.00 per month for the rent of the subject property, and no concession was reached by the parties to increase such amount to P15.000.00, petitioner cannot be faulted for paying only the originally agreed upon monthly rentals. Adopting petitioner's position, the RTC declared that respondents' failure to refer the matter to the Barangay court for conciliation process barred the ejectment case, conciliation before the Lupon being a condition sine qua non in the filing of ejectment suits. The RTC likewise agreed with petitioner in ruling that the allegation in the Complaint was flawed, since respondents failed to allege that there was an "unlawful withholding" of possession of the subject property, taking out Civil Case No. 1990 from the purview of an action for unlawful detainer. Finally, the RTC decreed that respondents' Complaint failed to comply with the rule that a co-owner could not maintain an action without joining all the other co-owners. Thus, according to the dispositive portion of the RTC Decision: WHEREFORE the appellate Court finds no cogent reason to disturb the findings of the court a quo . The Decision dated November 21, 2002 appealed from is hereby AFFIRMED IN TOTO. [12] Undaunted, respondents filed a Petition for Review on Certiorari [13] with the Court of Appeals where it was docketed as CA-G.R. SP No. 90906. Respondents argued in their Petition that the RTC gravely erred in ruling that their failure to comply with the conciliation process was fatal to their Complaint, since it is only respondent George de Castro who resides in Alaminos City, Pangasinan, while respondent Annie de Castro resides in Pennsylvania, United States of America (USA); respondent Felomina de Castro Uban, in California, USA; and respondent Jesus de Castro, now substituted by his wife, Martiniana, resides in Manila. Respondents further claimed that the MTC was not divested of jurisdiction over their Complaint for ejectment because of the mere absence therein of the term "unlawful withholding" of their subject property, considering that they had sufficiently alleged the same in their Complaint, albeit worded differently. Finally, respondents posited that the fact that only respondent George de Castro signed the Verification and the Certificate of Non-Forum Shopping attached to the Complaint was irrelevant since the other respondents already executed Special Powers of Attorney (SPAs) authorizing him to act as their att