G.R. No. 138906 - MOISES BENTULAN, REPRESENTED BY HIS HEIRS, NAMELY, HIS WIDOW LETICIA BULAN-BENTULAN AND CHILDREN MARIA LUISA BENTULAN AND MARIANNE BENTULAN, VS. AURELIA BENTULAN-MERCADO AND THE HEIRS OF CONCHITA BENTULAN-SALINAS, NAMELY, LUISA* SALINAS-FERNANDEZ, MARILYN, JAIME, MANOLITO, ALL SURN

Ruling

accordingly directed Moises to remove the nails he put on the doors of the toilet and to restore to Aurelia the free and unhampered use and enjoyment thereof. The trial proper commenced on 04 October 1984. Towards the latter part of 1986, Judge Sergio Amonoy took over the case, replacing Judge Nicanor Silvano. Eventually, on 19 July 1989 and 21 August 1989, petitioners and respondents respectively filed their supplemental memoranda. In the meantime, it appears that the task of rendering the decision in the case landed on the laps of Judge Manuel Dumatol who took over the case from Judge Amonoy. On account of Judge Dumatols alleged delay in resolving the case, an administrative complaint was filed against him by the herein appellants. Going by the Appellants Brief, it would appear that on 15 June 1994, the Court came out with its decision in the same administrative case, adjudging Judge Dumatol liable for inefficiency and incompetence for failure to resolve this case within a reasonable period of time and accordingly imposing upon him a fine of P5,000. [10] Over a year later, or more precisely on 02 October 1995, Judge Dumatol came out with the herein appealed decision, the decretal portion of which reads: WHEREFORE, in view of all the foregoing premises, judgment is hereby rendered: Declaring as NULL and VOID the document entitled SA KAALAMAN NG SINO MANG KINAUUKULAN dated December 28, 1968 and the Deed of Sale dated January 3, 1969, for being fictitious, forged and falsified; Declaring as NULL and VOID Transfer Certificate of Title No. 24878 dated May 21, 1979, issued by the Register of Deeds of Pasay City; Ordering the revival of the co-ownership of the property formerly covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. 9019 of the Register of Deeds of Pasay City dated March 1, 1963, to wit: LIBRADA SALINAS, widow, 5/8; AURELIA BENTULAN, married to Pelagio Mercado, 1/8; CONCHITA BENTULAN, married to Crestito Salinas, 1/8; and MOISES BENTULAN, single, 1/8; Ordering the Register of Deeds of Pasay City to cancel Transfer Certificate of Title No. 24878, and to revive Transfer Certificate of Title No. 9019 as above provided; Ordering respondent to pay petitioners moral and exemplary damages in the amount of P50,000.00; Ordering respondent to pay attorneys fees and litigation expenses in the sum of P5,000.00; and Ordering the respondent to pay costs of suit. [11] Undeterred by the initial set-back, Moises Bentulan, and represented by his heirs (petitioners herein), [12] filed an appeal before the Court of Appeals which, however, affirmed in toto the decision of the trial court. The dispositive portion of the decision, now the subject of this petition, states: WHEREFORE, finding no reversible error in the decision appealed from, We hereby AFFIRM the same and DISMISS the instant appeal. [13] The motion for reconsideration filed by the petitioners was likewise denied, hence, the present recourse where the petitioners maintain that the Court of Appeals