THIS IS TO CERTIFY that on September 24, 2004, the undersigned caused the service of summons together with a copy of the complaint with its annexes to defendant Spouses Lourdes Estudillo Paez-Cline and Orlando Villa at their given address at 905 Padre Faura Street, Ermita Manila, as per information given by two lady househelps who are also residing at the said address, the defendant spouses are not around at that time. On the 27th of September, 2004, I returned to the same place to serve the summons. I served the summons and the copy of the complaint with its annexes to the two ladies (The same lady househelp I met on Sept. 24, 2004) but they refused to sign to acknowledge receipt and they refused to tell their name as per instruction of the defendants. With me who can attest to the said incident is Mr. Jun Llanes, who was with me at that time.2 x x x (emphasis and underscoring supplied)
In assailing the orders of the trial court through their Motion to Lift... and later their Omnibus Motion... the petitioners [herein-respondents] never raised any other defense in avoidance of the respondents' [herein petitioners] claim, and instead focused all their energies on questioning the said court's jurisdiction. The latter motion clearly stated prefatorily their counsel's reservation or "special appearance to question jurisdiction" over the persons of the petitioners. "A party who makes a special appearance in court challenging the jurisdiction of said court based on the ground of invalid service of summons is not deemed to have submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the court."6 (citation omitted; italics, emphasis and underscoring supplied)
Sec. 20. Voluntary appearance. - The defendant's voluntary appearance in the action shall be equivalent to service of summons. The inclusion in a motion to dismiss of other grounds aside from lack of jurisdiction over the person shall not be deemed a voluntary appearance.
Preliminarily, jurisdiction over the defendant in a civil case is acquired either by the coercive power of legal processes exerted over his person, or his voluntary appearance in court. As a general proposition, one who seeks an affirmative relief is deemed to have submitted to the jurisdiction of the court. It is by reason of this rule that we have had occasion to declare that the filing of motions to admit answer, for additional time to file answer, for reconsideration of a default judgment, and to lift order of default with motion for reconsideration, is considered voluntary submission to the court's jurisdiction. This, however, is tempered by the concept of conditional appearance, such that a party who makes a special appearance to challenge, among others, the court's jurisdiction over his person cannot be considered to have submitted to its authority.
Prescinding from the foregoing, it is thus clear that:
(1) Special appearance operates as an exception to the general rule on voluntary appearance;
(2) Accordingly, objections to the jurisdiction of the court over the person of the defendant must be explicitly made, i.e., set forth in an unequivocal manner; and
(3) Failure to do so constitutes voluntary submission to the jurisdiction of the court, especially in instances where a pleading or motion seeking affirmative relief is filed and submitted to the court for resolution.7 (italics and underscoring supplied)
x x x xx x x x9
- In the case of respondents, there is no reason why they should not receive the Orders of this Honorable Court since the subject of the case is their multi-million real estate property and naturally they would not want to be declared in default or lose the same outright without the benefit of a trial on the merits;
- It would be the height of injustice if the respondents is [sic] denied the equal protection of the laws[;]
- Respondents must be afforded "Due process of Law" as enshrined in the New Constitution, which is a basic right of every Filipino, since they were not furnished copies of pleadings by the plaintiff and the Order dated May 3, 2005;
WHEREFORE, . . . it is most respectfully prayed . . . that the Order dated May 5, 2005 declaring [them] in default be LIFTED.10
Endnotes:
1 The Court of Appeals was originally impleaded as respondent. Pursuant however to Rule 45, Sec. 4 of the Rules of Court, the courts or judges rendering the assailed judgment shall not be impleaded as respondents in a petition for review on certiorari.
*Additional member per Special Order No. 821.
2 Records, p. 219.
3 Id. at 367-372.
4 Rollo, pp. 70-71.
5 Penned by Associate Justice Apolinario O. Bruselas, Jr. with the concurrence of Associate Justices Rebecca de Guia-Salvador and Vicente S.E. Veloso.
6 Supra note 4.
7 G.R. No. 171137, June 5, 2009.
8 Records, pp. 367-371.
9 Id. at 368-369.
10 Id. at 370.