G.R. No. 171762 - LYNN MAAGAD AND THE DIRECTOR OF LANDS, VS. JUANITO MAAGAD.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, premises considered, judgment is hereby rendered dismissing the above-entitled case for lack of evidence. [10] On appeal, the CA reversed and set aside the ruling of the RTC, viz .: WHEREFORE, all the foregoing considered, the appeal is hereby GRANTED and the assailed decision is REVERSED AND SET ASIDE . OCT No. P-3614 issued to the Heirs of Adelo Maagad is hereby declared NULL AND VOID and plaintiff-appellant declared the rightful owner and possessor of Lot No. 6297, Cad 237, C-5. [11] Hence, this petition for review on certiorari which calls upon the Court to resolve the following issues: (1) whether Juanito Maagad has a superior right over Lot 6297; (2) whether OCT No. P-3614, issued pursuant to the free patent application, should be declared null and void; and corollarily, (3) whether the title can be reconveyed to respondent. On the question of whether respondent Juanito Maagad has a superior right over Lot 6297, the CA ruled in the affirmative, viz .: The records of the case indubitably show that the Deed of Extrajudicial Partition executed in 1972 between and among the heirs of Proce[s]o Maagad, namely Adelo, Juanito, Loreto and Amadeo, contained a patent mistake by the erroneous adjudication of Lot No. 6297 to Adelo, herein defendant-appellee's [now petitioner's] father, considering that the said lot had long been in the actual possession of plaintiff-appellant [now respondent], through his father, and of the adjudication of Lot No. 6270 to plaintiff-appellant when the same had already been declared in Adelo's name. Consequently, the necessity to rectify the error arose. Hence, on January 29, 1990, plaintiff-appellant together with Adelo's heirs, including herein defendant-appellee Lynn, executed a Memorandum of Exchange to conform to the real intention of the extra-judicial partition. The instrument intended to exchange [Lot Nos.] 6297 and 6270; specifically, to transfer Lot No. 6297 from the heirs of Adelo Maagad to plaintiff-appellant, and in turn, to effect the transfer of Lot No. 6270 from the latter to the former. But for reasons beyond the intervention of the parties, the Memorandum of Exchange reflected the same mistake, thus, no exchange of property was in reality effected. We find, however, that notwithstanding the failure to effect the exchange of the properties, defendant-appellee's voluntary and active participation in the execution of the Memorandum of Exchange clearly demonstrated his recognition of the mistake in the instrument of partition. The intent to effect the exchange in order to correct the defect in the partition was strongly manifested when defendant-appellee voluntarily subscribed to the instrument. By his act, the latter is estopped from negating the existence of the mistake in the adjudication of the properties and of plaintiff-appellant's pre-existing rights over Lot No. 6297. Hence, We find defendant-appellee's contention tenuous that Lot No. 6297 belonged to him and his siblings by way of inherit