SECOND DIVISION
G.R. No. 215802, October 19, 2016
RIZALINA GEMINA, ROSARIO ACANTILADO, JUANITA REYES, EFREN EUGENIO, ROMELIA EUGENIO, AMADOR EUGENIO, JR., ANTONIO EUGENIO, LERMA E. RIBAC, ELVIRA E. SIMEON AND TOMAS EUGENIO, ALL REPRESENTED BY CANDIDO GEMINA, JR., Petitioners, v. JUANITO EUGENIO, LOLITA EUGENIO-SEV1LLA, BONIFACIO EUGENIO, ELEONOR EUGENIO, JOSE EUGENIO, AND THE SPOUSES LAUREL AND ZENAIDA MARIANO, Respondents.
D E C I S I O N
MENDOZA, J.:
This is a petition for review on certiorari seeking to reverse and set aside the October 17, 2012 Decision1 and the November 13, 2014 Resolution2 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. CV No. 94865, which affirmed the July 31, 2009 Decision3 and the November 16, 2009 Order4 of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 14, Laoag City (RTC) in Civil Case No. 13225-12, a case for annulment of instrument.
Spouses Candido Eugenio and Fernanda Geronimo (Spouses Eugenio) were the registered owners of a parcel of land designated as Lot 25742 situated in Brgy. Barit, Laoag City, with an area of 5,299 square meters and covered by Original Certificate of Title (OCT) No. 15218 (subject property).
Tomas, Cristina, Severina, Catalino, and Antero, all surnamed Eugenio, were the children of Spouses Eugenio. Petitioners Rizalina Gemina, Rosario Acantilado and Juanita Reyes are the heirs of Cristina and Severina; petitioner Efren Eugenio is the heir of Catalino; petitioners Perfecto Eugenio, Romelia Eugenio, Amador Eugenio, Jr., Antonio Eugenio, Elvira Simeon, and Lerma Rebac are the heirs of Antero; and petitioner Tomas Eugenio is the heir of Tomas.
In January 2004, Rizalina learned that the subject property was sold by a certain Francisco Eugenio (Francisco) to respondent Spouses Laurel and Zenaida Mariano (Spouses Mariano).
The petitioners, through Candido Gemina, Jr. (Candido, Jr.), called the attention of Spouses Mariano regarding the subject property. According to Spouses Mariano, they bought 4,000 square meters of the subject property, brokered by Francisco, through two (2) deeds of absolute sale.
The matter not being settled, the petitioners, represented by Candido, Jr., filed a complaint for annulment of the instruments before the RTC. They alleged that they were the legal heirs of the deceased Spouses Eugenio, who were the registered owners of the subject property. They further averred that the vendors sold the subject property without the consent of all the legal heirs, thus, the contract of sale was null and void.
The RTC Ruling
In a Decision, dated July 31, 2009, the RTC dismissed the complaint on the ground that the petitioners were not the real parties in interest. It noted that from the allegations in the complaint, the right that the petitioners sought to protect or enforce was that of an heir. Thus, it held that there was a need to establish their status as heirs in a special proceeding for that purpose before they could institute an ordinary civil action to enforce their rights in the subject property and to have legal personality to seek the nullity of the instruments which affected their rights in the said property.
The RTC, however, declared that Spouses Mariano were buyers in good faith and for value. It found that the petitioners had failed to rebut the presumption of regularity of performance of duty of the notaries public who notarized the two (2) instruments of sale and the presumption of good faith in favor of the buyers. The RTC noted that the unrebutted testimony of respondent Laurel Mariano (Laurel) showed that he was prudent in ascertaining the identities of the vendors of the property. It was also pointed out that some of the heirs were introduced to Spouses Mariano by Francisco, who, in turn, represented to Laurel that the duplicate owner's copy of the title was lost. The RTC disposed the case in this wise:chanRoblesvirtualLawlibrary
WHEREFORE, in view of the foregoing disquisition, this court hereby renders judgment:cralawlawlibrarychanrobleslaw
(1) dismissing the instant complaint on the ground that the plaintiffs are not the real parties in interest and the complaint states no cause of action; (2) adjudging the defendants spouses Laurel Mariano and Zenaida Mariano as buyer in good faith and for value because their vendors have lawful shares, interests and participation in the portion of Lot No. 25742 and in the other property/properties as part of the intestate estate of the late spouses Candido Eugenio and Fernanda Geronimo; (3) ordering the plaintiffs and their henchmen, representatives or assigns to respect the ownership and possession of the defendants spouses Laurel Mariano and Zenaida Mariano over the portions sold to them; (4) ordering the plaintiffs to pay jointly and solidarily to the defendants spouses Laurel Mariano and Zenaida Mariano the following civil liability, viz:
- P500,000.00 as and by way of moral damages;
- P100,000.00 as and by way of exemplary damages;
- P75,000.00 as and by way of nominal damages;
- P25,000.00 as and by way of temperate damages in lieu of actual expenses as it cannot be ignored that the above-named defendants spouses have incurred expenses in protecting and defending their rights subject of the complaint against them.
(5) ordering the plaintiffs to pay the cost of the suit.SO ORDERED.5
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Decision dated July 31, 2009 of the Regional Trial Court of Laoag City, Branch 14 is hereby affirmed with modification in that the award for moral and exemplary damages are hereby deleted.chanrobleslaw
SO ORDERED.6
chanrobleslawISSUES I
WHETHER THE PETITIONERS MUST INSTITUTE A SPECIAL PROCEEDING TO DETERMINE THEIR STATUS AS HEIRS OF SPOUSES EUGENIO BEFORE THEY COULD FILE AN ORDINARY ACTION FOR ANNULMENT OF INSTRUMENTII
WHETHER THE COURT COULD STILL ADJUDGE SPOUSES MARIANO AS BUYERS IN GOOD FAITH AFTER IT ALREADY RULED THAT THE PETITIONERS WERE NOT THE REAL PARTIES IN INTEREST.
The common doctrine in Litam, Solivio and Guilas in which the adverse parties are putative heirs to the estate of a decedent or parties to the special proceedings for its settlement is that if the special proceedings are pending, or if there are no special proceedings filed but there is, under the circumstances of the case, a need to file one, then the determination of, among other issues, heirship should be raised and settled in said special proceedings. Where special proceedings had been instituted but had been finally closed and terminated, however, or if a putative heir has lost the right to have himself declared in the special proceedings as co-heir and he can no longer ask for its re-opening, then an ordinary civil action can be filed for his declaration as heir in order to bring about the annulment of the partition or distribution or adjudication of a property or properties belonging to the estate of the deceased.14 (Emphasis supplied)chanrobleslaw
What is contemplated, therefore, is a failure to state a cause of action which is provided in Sec. 1(g) of Rule 16. This is a matter of insufficiency of the pleading. Sec. 5 of Rule 10, which was also included as the last mode for raising the issue to the court, refers to the situation where the evidence does not prove a cause of action. This is, therefore, a matter of insufficiency of evidence. Failure to state a cause of action is different from failure to prove a cause of action. The remedy in the first is to move for dismissal of the pleading, while the remedy in the second is to demur to the evidence, hence reference to Sec. 5 of Rule 10 has been eliminated in this section. The procedure would consequently be to require the pleading to state a cause of action, by timely objection to its deficiency; or, at the trial, to file a demurrer to evidence, if such motion is warranted.chanrobleslaw
Section 5. Amendment to conform to or authorize presentation of evidence. — When issues not raised by the pleadings are tried with the express or implied consent of the parties they shall be treated in all respects as if they had been raised in the pleadings. Such amendment of the pleadings as may be necessary to cause them to conform to the evidence and to raise these issues may be made upon motion of any party at any time, even after judgment; but failure to amend does not affect the result of the trial of these issues. If evidence is objected to at the trial on the ground that it is not within the issues made by the pleadings, the court may allow the pleadings to be amended and shall do so with liberality if the presentation of the merits of the action and the ends of substantial justice will be subserved thereby. The court may grant a continuance to enable the amendment to be made.chanrobleslaw
Endnotes:
1 Penned by Associate Justice Jane Aurora C. Lantion with Presiding Justice Vicente S.E. Veloso and Associate Justice Eduardo B. Peralta, Jr., concurring; rollo, pp. 58-67.
2 Id. at 69-70.
3 Penned by Judge Charles A. Aguila; records, pp. 219-244.
4 Id. at 292-294.
5 Id. at 61-62.
6 Id. at 66.
7Rollo, pp. 82-87.
8 Id. at 92-103.
9 Section 3(a), Rule 1, Rules of Court.
10 Section 3(c), Rule 1, Rules of Court.
11 Section 2, Rule 3, Rules of Court.
12Reyes V. Enriquez, G.R.No. 162956, April 10, 2008, 551 SCRA 86, 92.
13 504 Phil. 456 (2005).
14 Id. at 469.
15Heirs of Ypon v. Ricaforte, 713 Phil. 570, 577 (2013).
16 Id.
17 TSN, September 8, 2005, pp. 3-6.
18 Volume I, Ninth Revised Ed. (2005), p. 182.
19Pacaña v. Rovila Water Supply, Inc., 722 Phil. 460, 473 (2013).