1. JUDGMENT; "RES JUDICATA" ; "PACTO DE RETRO" SALE. — The whole controversy litigated by the parties in the instant case revolves around the deceive question whether the pacto de retro sale (Exhibit A-1) is valid or not; and it is held that such question has been squarely ventilated in civil case No. 131 of the Court of First Instance of Palawan and decided in a sense favorable to the herein appellant, namely, that the sale in question is valid. The appellees are concluded by the final adjudication thus made, and no powerful reason is supplied by the record which will justify us in disregarding the principles of res judicata and in permitting a reexamination of a closed question. The doctrine of res judicata is an old axiom of the law, dictated by wisdom and sanctified by age, and is founded on the broad principle that it is to the interest of the public that there should be an end to litigation by the same parties and their privies over a subject once fully and fairly adjudicated. (Martin v. Evans, 85 Md., 8; 36 A., 258; 36 L. R. A., 218; 60 Am. S. R., 292.) Indeed, the very object of instituting courts of justice is that litigation should be decided, and decided finally, for human life is not long enough to allow of matters once disposed of being brought under discussion again. (Great Northern R. Co. v. Mossop, 17 C. B., 130, 140-84 R. C. L. . 130; 139 Reprint, 1018.)

On September 16, 1924, the spouses Manuel Fernandez Gomachiao and Engracia Sebido, the defendants and appellees, executed in favor of Clemente Fernandez, the plaintiff and appellant. a pacto de retro sale (Exhibit A-1) conveying a parcel of land situated in the municipality of Cuyo, Palawan, for the stipulated consideration of P2,600. The document evidencing the transaction was registered in the office of the register of deeds of Palawan. On July 20, 1926, the said spouses instituted in the Court of First Instance of Palawan civil case No. 131 against Clemente Fernandez and Jacinto Yamzon, the latter in his capacity as register of deeds of Palawan, wherein, after alleging, among other things, that the aforesaid pacto de retro sale was simulated, without consideration, and obtained by means of fraud on the part of Clemente Fernandez, it was prayed that the same be set aside and declared null and void and that the register of deeds of Palawan be ordered to cancel its inscription in his registry book. In said civil case No. 131 Clemente Fernandez put in an answer in which it was alleged, by way of special defense, that the sale in question was duly executed and the consideration therefor had been paid to and received by the complaining spouses, and, by way of counterclaim, that the refusal of the latter to deliver to Clemente Fernandez the property covered by the sale had caused him damages amounting to P2,000. Clemente Fernandez therefore prayed that he be declared the sole and exclusive owner of the land in question, that the aforesaid spouses be ordered to deliver the same to him and to pay P2,000 as damages, and that the complaint be dismissed with costs. After hearing, the Court of First Instance of Palawan rendered judgment absolving Clemente Fernandez and Jacinto Yamzon from the complaint, and expressly overruling the contention of the plaintiff spouses that the aforesaid pacto de retro sale was simulated, without consideration. and obtained by means of fraud.

No appeal was ever taken from the judgment in said civil case No. 131. Thereafter Clemente Fernandez filed the present complaint in the Court of First Instance of Palawan against the spouses Engracia Sebido and Manuel Fernandez Gomachiao praying that the defendants be ordered to turn over to the plaintiff the land conveyed under the pacto de retro sale (Exhibit A-1) and to pay the sum of P40 as monthly rental beginning September 16, 1926. In their amended answer the defendants denied the authenticity of the sale alleging that the same is simulated, without consideration, and obtained by means of fraud on the part of the plaintiff, and, as counterclaims, sought to recover from the plaintiff the separate sums of P5,000, P25,000 and P720. The defendants also prayed that the aforesaid pacto de retro sale be declared null and void and that they be absolved from the complaint. After trial the Court of First Instance of Palawan rendered judgment the dispositive part of which is as follows:jgc:chanrobles.com.ph

"Por tanto, el Juzgado declara que el documento de venta con pacto de retro Exhibit A es nulo, por haberse obtenido mediante engano, falta de consideracion y por ser simulado, ficticio y no expresa la verdadera intencion de las partes; que el 1.