EN BANC
[G.R. No. L-6337. March 12, 1954. ]
RUPERTA CAMARA, NATALIA CAMARA, ZOSIMA CAMARA, ABIGNIGO CAMARA, SADRAC CAMARA and REBECA CAMARA, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CELESTINO AGUILAR, ROBERTA AGUILAR, ALICIA AGUILAR and RODELO AGUILAR, the last three being represented by their guardian ad litem PURIFICACION VILLAMIEL, Defendants-Appellees.
H.B. Arandia for Appellants.
Alfredo Bonus for Appellees.
SYLLABUS
1. ACTIONS; DAMAGES AWARDED TO PLAINTIFF BARS DEFENDANTS’ CLAIM FOR DAMAGES IN A SUBSEQUENT CASE. — Where damages were awarded to the plaintiff against the defendants and intervenors, the latter cannot, in a subsequent case involving the same subject matter and the same cause of action, claim for damages on the ground that they were in possession of the disputed parcel of land in good faith and are entitled to recover the expenses for clearing, planting and cultivating the land and the fruits which they failed to reap or harvest therein or their value.
2. ID.; COUNTERCLAIM FOR EXPENSES MAY BE SET UP ALTERNATIVELY OR HYPOTHETICALLY IN ONE CAUSE OF ACTION. — Plaintiffs who are intervenors in a former case could have set up in the first case the claim that they were entitled to the parcel of land in question and alternatively that, assuming (hypothetically) that they were not entitled to the parcel of land, at least they were entitled as possessors in good faith to the coconut and other fruit-bearing trees planted by them in the land and their fruits or their value.
2. ID.; COUNTERCLAIM FOR EXPENSES MAY BE SET UP ALTERNATIVELY OR HYPOTHETICALLY IN ONE CAUSE OF ACTION. — Plaintiffs who are intervenors in a former case could have set up in the first case the claim that they were entitled to the parcel of land in question and alternatively that, assuming (hypothetically) that they were not entitled to the parcel of land, at least they were entitled as possessors in good faith to the coconut and other fruit-bearing trees planted by them in the land and their fruits or their value.
D E C I S I O N
PADILLA, J.:
This is an action to recover the sum of P300 for clearing a parcel of land described in the complaint, and of P750 for its cultivation, caring and preservation of the coconut trees and other fruit-bearing trees planted therein. The plaintiffs further pray that the defendants jointly and severally be ordered to pay them the sum of P10,100 representing the value of the coconut trees and other fruit- bearing trees planted in the parcel of land or that they be declared entitled to pay to the defendants the reasonable value of the parcel of land.
The plaintiffs allege that they are all of age except Rebeca Camara for whom her sister Ruperta was appointed guardian ad litem; that they are the children of the late Severino Camara who since 1915 had been in continuous and uninterrupted possession of a parcel of land situated in the barrio of Balubad, municipality of Atimonan, province of Quezon, formerly Tayabas, containing an area of 5 hectares, more or less, and bounded on the North by the land of Catalino Velasco, on the East by the land of José Camara 1.
The plaintiffs allege that they are all of age except Rebeca Camara for whom her sister Ruperta was appointed guardian ad litem; that they are the children of the late Severino Camara who since 1915 had been in continuous and uninterrupted possession of a parcel of land situated in the barrio of Balubad, municipality of Atimonan, province of Quezon, formerly Tayabas, containing an area of 5 hectares, more or less, and bounded on the North by the land of Catalino Velasco, on the East by the land of José Camara 1.
