G.R. No. 127936 -

Ruling

WHEREFORE, the petition is hereby DENIED due course and DISMISSED. Our earlier temporary restraining order is LIFTED, with costs against petitioners. Necessarily, petitioners motion for contempt of court against private respondents is likewise dismissed for lack of factual and legal basis." [4] For lack of merit, petitioners Motion for Reconsideration was denied in the questioned Resolution. The Facts The facts, as found by the Court of Appeals (CA), are as follows: "x x x [O]n July 27, 1989, petitioners Thelma C. Panado, et. al., filed an amended complaint in Civil Case No. 3951 for recovery of possession and ownership of a parcel of land against private respondent Hernando Cortes. Respondent RTC Judge Sheila Martelino-Cortes dismissed the complaint for failure to prosecute with costs against plaintiffs. Defendants counterclaim was waived and was likewise dismissed. "On May 9, 1990, petitioners instituted Civil Case No. 4187 for quieting of title with damages, against private respondents. This complaint was amended on November 26, 1990. In order dated April 10, 1991, the Regional Trial Court dismissed the case on the ground of res judicata, with costs against plaintiffs. The RTC also noted that in filing Civil Case No. 4187, petitioners committed forum-shopping. "Petitioners motion for reconsideration of the April 10, 1991 order having been denied, the case was appealed to the Court of Appeals. In a decision promulgated October 28, 1993, this Court affirmed the appealed order and dismissed the appeal, with costs against appellants. "Petitioners filed a motion for reconsideration but the same was denied. Entry of judgment having been issued on July 13, 1994, private respondents filed a motion for execution of judgment. Petitioners opposed the motion for execution, pointing out that the dispositive portions of the dismissal order in Civil Case No. 4187 as well as that of the decision in CA-G.R. CV No. 32625 show that there is nothing to execute. "On March 3, 1995, respondent Judge issued an order for the issuance of a writ of execution of Civil Case No. 4187 on the ground that the decision of the Court of Appeals had become final and executory." [5] Petitioners then filed a Petition for Certiorari before the Court of Appeals to challenge the issuance of the Writ of Execution in Civil Case No. 4187. Without necessarily giving due course to the petition, the CA, [6] on April 28, 1995 ordered the public respondents "temporarily to desist from enforcing the assailed order and the Writ of Execution." [7] For simplicity and brevity, we shall henceforth refer to this Order as a TRO. On December 28, 1995, the petitioners filed, in the same case proceedings before the CA, a Petition to Declare [Private] Respondents in Contempt of Court, for allegedly entering the disputed property in violation of the TRO. For purposes of clarity, we should add that the herein parties litigated between them the ownership and possession of several parcels of land in thre