G.R. No. 147029 -

Ruling

WHEREFORE, the Court hereby renders judgment as follows: 1) Declaring the Contract of Deed of Sale dated November 11, 1954, executed by the spouses Roman Aquino and Valentina Bernardo in favor of Juan Fabella over the property covered by Original Certificate of Title No. 6, Registry of Deeds of Bulacan, as an equitable mortgage; 2) Ordering the Register of Deeds of Malolos, Bulacan, to annul and cancel Transfer Certificate of Title No. 15770 in the name of Juan Fabella, and Transfer Certificate of Title No. 17592 in the names of Saturnino D. Liwanag, Domingo D. Liwanag, Raymundo D. Liwanag, and Rosie D. Liwanag, over the property subject matter of this case, and to issue the corresponding title thereon in the names of Spouses Roman Aquino and Valentina Bernardo; 3) Ordering the spouses Roman Aquino and Valentina Bernardo to pay the amount of P40,000.00 to the intervenors as reimbursement of the purchase price of the land subject thereof, with legal interest of 12% per annum from October 1956 until paid, the amount of P12,000.00 as moral and exemplary damages, and P15,000.00 as attorneys fees, plus expenses of litigation . [25] (Emphasis and underscoring supplied) There appears to have been no appeal taken from the above-said judgment. Respondents-heirs of Valentina, alleging that when their counsel sought to execute the judgment, he discovered that the Liwanag group had sold the land to petitioners, filed on August 14, 1992 before the RTC of Bulacan a complaint, [26] docketed as Civil Case No. 534-M-92 , for revocation and annulment of title and reconveyance, against petitioners and the Liwanag group , they alleging that they (said respondents-heirs of Valentina) have been in open, continuous possession and occupation of the land, and that the defendants were in bad faith. In their Answer with compulsory counterclaim, [27] petitioners denied that respondents-heirs of Valentina have been in open, continuous possession and occupation of the land, they contending that they were the ones who exercised ownership thereover after they bought it (on August 10, 1978) and have been paying real estate taxes thereon; and that they are innocent purchasers for value of the land because at the time of the purchase, there were no liens and/or encumbrances annotated on the title. Replying, [28] respondents-heirs of Valentina denied the allegations of petitioners, they contending that payment of real estate taxes does not accord petitioners better right to the land; that petitioners were not in good faith and purchasers for value considering that the land has been under litigation for more than 30 years; and that the January 27, 1977 certification issued by the Spl. Deputy Clerk that the November 13, 1976 dismissal order of the trial court had become final and executory should have necessarily put petitioners on guard and prompted them to determine the actual status of the land. Claiming res judicata , the Liwanag group filed a motion to dismiss [29] the case,