G.R. No. 199448 - ROLANDO S. ABADILLA, JR., VS. SPOUSES BONIFACIO P. OBRERO AND BERNABELA N. OBRERO.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE , premises considered, the instant case is hereby DISMISSED . The counter claim of the [petitioner] is likewise DISMISSED . No pronouncement as to costs. SO ORDERED . [13] Ruling of the RTC The respondents appealed to the RTC of Laoag City, Branch 65, which, in a Decision dated September 9, 2009, disagreed with the findings of the MTCC. After a scrutiny and assessment of the parties' evidence of ownership to support their respective claims of possession, the RTC found the respondents' asseverations more credible. The 1991 Deed of Absolute Sale between the respondents and Abadilla, Sr. was found of no force and effect for lack of consideration. The respondents were found to have exercised acts of dominion over the subject land since 1991 by establishing their residence thereon, declaring the same for taxation purposes, paying the corresponding realty taxes, planting trees and building concrete structures. The damages for which the parties claimed indemnification were denied for being unsubstantiated. Accordingly, dispositive portion of the RTC decision read: WHEREFORE, in the light of the foregoing, the Court finds for the [respondents] and against the [petitioner], and hereby renders judgment, granting the appeal, and reversing, setting-aside [sic] the appealed Decision of the court a quo, ordering the following: Ordering the [petitioner] and his representatives, heirs and assigns, and all who claim title/possession under him, to totally and fully vacate the premises of the subject land; restore possession fully and absolutely to the [respondents] as well as to desist absolutely and perpetually from molesting the possession of the [respondents] over the property until such time that the issue of ownership may have been resolved at the proper forum, and in the event that the [petitioner] prevails thereon; and, Ordering the [petitioner] to remove or demolish the fences that they have constructed on the subject land. Without costs. SO ORDERED.