G.R. No. 183589 - CHARLIE LIM (REPRESENTED BY HIS HEIRS) AND LILIA SALANGUIT,[1], VS. SPOUSES DANILO LIGON AND GENEROSA VITUG-LIGON.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, premises considered and finding the protest of Spouses Isaac and Concepcion Ronulo to be meritorious, the plan PSU-04-008565 approved in the name of Tomas Fernandez is hereby, as it is, ordered CANCELLED and whatever amount paid on account thereof forfeited in favor of the Government. Consequently, the aforementioned spouses Ronulo are hereby advised to cause the survey and to file the appropriate public land application over the land actually possessed and occupied by them. (Exh. A-2). The above order was appealed by Felicisimo Fernandez to the Office of the DENR Secretary and was docketed therein as DENR Case No. 5101. On 20 October 1995, the already widowed Concepcion Ronulo executed an Affidavit of Waiver of Rights over the parcel of land subject of DENR Case No. IV-5516 in favor of herein defendant Lim who will file the appropriate public land application (Exh. A-3). On the same date, the children of Concepcion Ronulo executed an affidavit of conformity to the waiver, conveyance and transfer of the property subject of DENR Case No. IV-5516 in favor of Charlie Lim (Exh. A-4). In the meantime, herein plaintiffs Spouses Danilo Ligon and Generosa Vitug-Ligon purchased the subject property from Felicisimo Fernandez and introduced improvements thereon, including a beach house. On 31 October 1995, TCT No. TP-1792 (Exh. A-1) of the Registry of Deeds of Nasugbu, Batangas was issued in the name of the spouses Ligon based on Free Patent No. (IV03A) issued on 11 December 1986 and an analogous Original Certificate of Title No. OP-1808 (Exh. B) dated 16 December 1993, both in the name of Felicisimo Fernandez. On 09 September 1996, defendant Lim filed a complaint for forcible entry against the petitioners with the Municipal Trial Court of Nasugbu, Batangas involving the subject property. The case was docketed as Civil Case No. 1275. On May 26, 1997, the trial court rendered judgment (Exh. A-5) in favor of private respondent and ordered petitioners to vacate the subject land. The trial court based its decision on the alleged finality of the Order dated 09 October 1995 issued by Regional Director Prinsipe in DENR Case No. IV-5516. Plaintiffs appealed the adverse decision to the Regional Trial Court of Nasugbu, Batangas but the same was affirmed in a decision dated 12 January 1998 (Exh. A-6). On 20 July 1998, plaintiffs appealed the RTC decision to the Court of Appeals by way of a petition for review. In a decision (Exh. A-7) dated 20 January 1999, the Court of Appeals dismissed the petition for review. On 28 May 1999, the DENR Secretary rendered a decision (Exh. A-8) in DENR Case No. 5102 reversing the order of Regional Director Prinsipe in DENR Case No. IV-5516 dated 09 October 1995, dismissing the protest of the Ronulos, and ordering that TCT No. TP-1792 in the name of plaintiffs shall remain undisturbed. On 14 July 1999, the Ronulos filed a motion for reconsideration of the above decision. In an order (Exh. A-9) dated 21 December 1999, the