1. REMEDIAL LAW; JUDGMENTS; RES ADJUDICATA; PRIOR DECISION DID NOT RESOLVE ISSUE RAISED IN INSTANT CASE. — Where nothing was said in the decision in G.R. No. L-16934 about the issue of whether or not Gustilo was already occupying more than 2/3 of the lot, and in fact the only contention of the Mayor passed upon in that decision was his "claim that he could award the lot without holding a lottery because petitioners (appellants herein), in their letters to the City Council of Bacolod and interview and conference with the City Mayor of Bacolod, reiterated their desire to buy only the parts of the lot actually occupied by their houses and did not ask for the holding of a lottery or raffle; and that he was empowered by Sec. 6 of the ordinance to implement its provisions when the sale of the lot is not covered by the provisions of the ordinance," the appellants’ allegation of res adjudicata, contending that the said issue has already been resolved in the decision of the court a quo in the present case as affirmed by this Court, should be overruled.

2. POLITICAL LAW; MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS; MUNICIPAL ORDINANCE; CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION RELATIVE TO REQUIREMENT OF POSSESSION AND DATE OF OCCUPANCY. — It is evident that Ord. 13, Series of 1959 of the City of Bacolod regarding the award and sale of lots acquired by the city from the RFC contemplates that where there are several claimants to the lot, it should be awarded to only one of the occupants. Surely to demand the exact computation of the measurement of the areas respectively occupied by each occupant up to the last square inch would be absurd. And as to the date of occupancy, We are not convinced that the wording of the ordinance now before Us excludes the possible construction that the date of reference is the date of the award, which is as consistent a construction as any other with the primordial purpose of the same of making the award to the occupant of the largest area.

Separate appeals from an order and a decision of the Court of First Instance of Negros Occidental in two related cases. Civil Cases Nos. 5186 and 7541 of said court. In G.R. No. L-24794, appellants have appealed from the order in Case No. 5186, dated April 27, 1965, holding that "ya no existen fundamentos legales para obligar al deniandado alcalde de la Ciudad de Bacolod para que cumpla con la sentencia dictada en esta causa" which was for said Mayor to conduct a lottery to determine to whom to award the right to purchase a lot belonging to said City then being allocated to occupants-applicants pursuant to its Ordinance No. 13, Series of 1959. G.R. No. L-24879, in turn, is an appeal from the judgment in Case No. 7544 dismissing a complaint seeking the annulment of the award made by the same Mayor of the said lot to defendant-appellee Daisy Gustilo, as well as the pertinent judgments and orders, respectively, of the City Court in its Civil Case No. 2093 and the Court of First Instance of Negros Occidental in its Civil Case No. 5283 which not only decreed the ejectment of appellants from the same lot but also ordered the execution of the said judgment of ejectment on the ground that the same had already become final and executory.

These cases call for the proper interpretation and construction of the following provisions of Ordinance No. 13, Series of 1959 of the City of Bacolod relative to the manner of awarding and selling to occupants and applicants lots in the so-called Bacolod City RFC Subdivision acquired by said city from the Rehabilitation Finance Corporation:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"Award. — In the award or sale of any and all of the above subdivision lots, the following rules, priority or preference shall be strictly observed;

"a) Preferential right to buy shall be granted to actual occupant or occupants of the respective lot or lots as hereinafter in this section defined. In the absence of actual occupant or occupants the award to buy shall be granted on a first come first served basis. By actual occupant or occupants is meant those who were actually having a house on the lot or lots concerned at the time the City of Bacolod has formally made known, in writing, of its desire to acquire this lot from the Rehabilitation Finance Corporation (RFC).

"b) . . .

"c) Except side lots bordering Lacson and Burgos Streets, there shall be at most two awardees to a lot having 251 square meters or more in area who shall divide the lot share and share alike; Provided, however, that, should there be but two occupants as understood in subparagraph (b) hereinabove immediately preceding, they shall, upon proper applications made in accordance with Section `7’ hereof, be deemed and considered the awardees of that particular lot who shall divide the same share and share alike; Provided, further, that should there be three or more occupants claiming preferences to one lot the two awardees to the same shall have to be determined by lottery among them; Provided, nevertheless, that in cases where one of the three or more occupants actually occupies at least one-half of the lot, said occupant shall thereby he deemed and considered as one of the two awardees, the remaining half to be determined by lottery among the other occupants; Provided, finally, that, in no case shall there be more than one (1) awardee with respect to side-lots bordering Lacson and Burgos Streets and, should there be more than one (1) claimant claiming preferences in and over a particular one lot, the award to only one shall be determined by lottery. However, should one of the several occupants claiming preferences occupy or possess at least two- thirds (2/3) of a particular lot bordering these streets, said occupant shall thereby, upon application duly made, be deemed and considered the awardee of the particular lot to the exclusion of all other occupants of the same. The award herein shall always be subject to requirements contained, made and provided in Article IV, Section 9, and Article V, Section o, paragraph (c) of Ordinance No. 140, Series of 1957, otherwise known as the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Bacolod." [Italics supplied]

In the particular lot herein in question, Lot No. 879B-40, containing 289 square meters, there were admittedly several occupants, namely, appellants Isabel G. Cabungcal, married to Juan Cabungcal, and Socorro Paez, married to Emiliano Paez, and Pedro Hablo and Apolonia Bolivar and appellee Daisy Gustilo actually having their respective houses thereon "at the time the City of Bacolod (has) made known, in writing, (of) its desire to acquire this lot from the Rehabilitation Finance Corporation." It is undisputed that each of them occupied varying areas within said lot as follows: the Cabungcals occupied 36 square meters, the Paezes 36, Hablo 33, Bolivar 14 and Gustilo 170. Daisy Gustilo filed her application to purchase on June 3, 1958, the Cabungcals on June 4, 1958 and the Paezes on June 9, 1958. There is no showing as to when the others filed their applications; anyway, their applications are not involved here.

Claiming that "he could award the lot without holding a lottery because petitioners, in their letters to the City Council of Bacolod (Exhibit A-4) and interview or conference with the City Mayor of Bacolod (Exhibit A-5), reiterated the desire to buy only the parts of the lot, actually occupied by their houses and did not ask for the holding of a lottery or raffle and that he was empowered by sec. 6 of the ordinance to implement its provisions when the sale of the lot is not covered by the provisions of the ordinance," on November 10, 1958, the Mayor awarded the lot to Gustilo. (Cabungcal, Et. Al. v. Cordova, etc., Et Al., G.R. No. L-16934. 11 SCRA 584), reason for which, the Cabungcals and the Paezes filed Civil Case No. 5186 to annul said award and to compel the Mayor to adhere to and comply with the ordinance. They won in the Court of First Instance of Negros Occidental whose decision was affirmed by this Court on July 31, 1964 in the case just cited.

In apparent obedience to the said decision of this Court, on March 3, 1965, the Mayor notified the parties, the Cabungcals, Paezes and Gustilo. that to determine the sole awardee of the lot in question, a lottery would be held in his office on March 16, 1965. On said date, however, Gustilo presented her objection to the holding of the lottery on the ground that she had already acquired the portion occupied by Bolivar of 14 square meters on December 8, 1958 and that occupied by Hablo of 33 square meters on September 25, 1959 and that insofar as that occupied by the Cabungcals of 36 square meters, the same was delivered to her by virtue of a writ of execution of a final judgment of ejectment and a subsequent order of demolition dated January 20, 1965 of the Court of First Instance of Negros Occidental, 1 and that, consequently, being already the occupant of more than 2/3 of the lot in dispute, under the ordinance, she should be deemed and considered the awardee thereof to the exclusion of all the other occupants of the same. The Mayor found Gustilo’s objection well taken, refused to conduct any lottery and, accordingly, made a report to the court a quo of his resolution. (Manifestation, pp. 43-45, Record on Appeal) Whereupon, the said court issued the appealed order reading as follows:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"AUTO

"De acuerdo con la sentencia dictada en esta causa que ya ha quedado firme y ejecutoria, el Juzgado, por orden de 13 de Febrero de 1965, ordeno al deamandado alcalde de la Ciudad de Bacolod para que proceda a celebrar una rifa al objeto de determinar a quien de las reclamantes se debe de adjudicar el lote en cuestión y en cumplimiento a dicha orden el referido demandado fijo el d