[G.R. No. 179010, April 11 : 2011]
ELENITA M. DEWARA, REPRESENTED BY HER ATTORNEY-IN-FACT, FERDINAND MAGALLANES, PETITIONER, VS. SPOUSES RONNIE AND GINA LAMELA AND STENILE ALVERO, RESPONDENTS.
DECISION
Before the Court is a petition for review on certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court, assailing the Decision1 dated November 6, 2006 and the Resolution2 dated July 10, 2007 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CV No. 64936, which reversed and set aside the Decision3 dated September 2, 1999 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 54, Bacolod City, in Civil Case No. 93-7942.
The Facts
Eduardo Dewara (Eduardo) and petitioner Elenita Magallanes Dewara (Elenita) were married before the enactment of the Family Code. Thus, the Civil Code governed their marital relations. Husband and wife were separated-in-fact because Elenita went to work in California, United States of America, while Eduardo stayed in Bacolod City.
On January 20, 1985, Eduardo, while driving a private jeep registered in the name of Elenita,4 hit respondent Ronnie Lamela (Ronnie). Ronnie filed a criminal case for serious physical injuries through reckless imprudence5 against Eduardo before the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC), Branch IV, Bacolod City. The MTCC found Eduardo guilty of the charge and sentenced him to suffer the penalty of imprisonment of two (2) months and one (1) day to (3) months, and to pay civil indemnity of Sixty-Two Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Eight Pesos and Seventy Centavos (P62,598.70) as actual damages and Ten Thousand Pesos (P10,000.00) as moral damages. On appeal, the RTC6 affirmed the decision of the MTCC7 and it became final and executory.8
The writ of execution on the civil liability was served on Eduardo, but it was returned unsatisfied because he had no property in his name. Ronnie requested the City Sheriff, respondent Stenile Alvero, to levy on Lot No. 234-C, Psd. 26667 of the Bacolod Cadastre, with an area of One Thousand Four Hundred Forty (1,440) square meters (sq m), under Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) No. T-80054, in the name of ELENITA M. DEWARA, of legal age, Filipino, married to Eduardo Dewara, and resident of Bacolod City,
