6 130761-1990-Alvarez v. Intermediate Appellate Court
6 130761-1990-Alvarez v. Intermediate Appellate Court
6 130761-1990-Alvarez v. Intermediate Appellate Court
DECISION
FERNAN , C.J : p
This is a petition for review on certiorari seeking the reversal of: (a) the
decision of the Fourth Civil Cases Division of the Intermediate Appellate Court
dated August 31, 1983 in AC-G.R. CV No. 56626 entitled "Jesus Yanes et al. v. Dr.
Rodolfo Siason et al." affirming the decision dated July 8, 1974 of the Court of
First Instance of Negros Occidental insofar as it ordered the petitioners to pay
jointly and severally the private respondents the sum of P20,000.00 representing
the actual value of Lots Nos. 773-A and 773-B of the cadastral survey of Murcia,
Negros Occidental and reversing the subject decision insofar as it awarded the
sums of P2,000.00, P5,000.00 and P2,000.00 as actual damages, moral damages
and attorney's fees, respectively and (b) the resolution of said appellate court
dated May 30, 1984, denying the motion for reconsideration of its decision. llcd
The real properties involved are two parcels of land identi ed as Lot 773-A
and Lot 773-B which were originally known as Lot 773 of the cadastral survey of
Murcia, Negros Occidental. Lot 773, with an area of 156,549 square meters, was
registered in the name of the heirs of Aniceto Yanes under Original Certi cate of
Title No. RO-4858 (8804) issued on October 9, 1917 by the Register of Deeds of
Occidental Negros (Exh. A).
Aniceto Yanes was survived by his children, Ru no, Felipe and Teodora.
Herein private respondents, Estelita, Iluminado and Jesus, are the children of
Ru no who died in 1962 while the other private respondents, Antonio and Rosario
Yanes, are children of Felipe. Teodora was survived by her child, Jovita (Jovito)
Alib. 1 It is not clear why the latter is not included as a party in this case.
Aniceto left his children Lots 773 and 823. Teodora cultivated only three
hectares of Lot 823 as she could not attend to the other portions of the two lots
which had a total area of around twenty-four hectares. The record does not show
whether the children of Felipe also cultivated some portions of the lots but it is
established that Ru no and his children left the province to settle in other places
as a result of the outbreak of World War II. According to Estelita, from the
"Japanese time up to peace time", they did not visit the parcels of land in question
but "after liberation", when her brother went there to get their share of the sugar
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produced therein, he was informed that Fortunato Santiago, Fuentebella
(Puentevella) and Alvarez were in possession of Lot 773. 2
It is on record that on May 19, 1938, Fortunato D. Santiago was issued
Transfer Certi cate of Title No. RF 2694 (29797) covering Lot 773-A with an area
of 37,818 square meters. 3 TCT No. RF 2694 describes Lot 773-A as a portion of
Lot 773 of the cadastral survey of Murcia and as originally registered under OCT
No. 8804.
The bigger portion of Lot 773 with an area of 118,831 square meters was
also registered in the name of Fortunato D. Santiago on September 6, 1938 under
TCT No. RT-2695 (28192). 4 Said transfer certi cate of title also contains a
certi cation to the effect that Lot 773-B was originally registered under OCT No.
8804.
On May 30, 1955, Santiago sold Lots 773-A and 773-B to Monico B.
Fuentebella, Jr. in consideration of the sum of P7,000.00. 5 Consequently, on
February 20, 1956, TCT Nos. T-19291 and T-19292 were issued in Fuentebella's
name. 6
After Fuentebella's death and during the settlement of his estate, the
administratrix thereof (Arsenia R. Vda. de Fuentebella, his wife) led in Special
Proceedings No. 4373 in the Court of First Instance of Negros Occidental, a
motion requesting authority to sell Lots 773-A and 773-B 7 By virtue of a court
order granting said motion, 8 on March 24, 1958, Arsenia Vda. de Fuentebella sold
said lots for P6,000.00 to Rosendo Alvarez. 9 Hence, on April 1, 1958. TCT Nos. T-
23165 and T-23166 covering Lots 773-A and 773-B were respectively issued to
Rosendo Alvarez. 1 0
Two years later or on May 26, 1960, Teodora Yanes and the children of her
brother Ru no, namely, Estelita, Iluminado and Jesus, led in the Court of First
Instance of Negros Occidental a complaint against Fortunato Santiago, Arsenia
Vda. de Fuentebella, Alvarez and the Register of Deeds of Negros Occidental for
the "return" of the ownership and possession of Lots 773 and 823. They also
prayed that an accounting of the produce of the land from 1944 up to the ling of
the complaint be made by the defendants, that after court approval of said
accounting, the share or money equivalent due the plaintiffs be delivered to them,
and that defendants be ordered to pay plaintiffs P500.00 as damages in the form
of attorney's fees. 1 1
During the pendency in court of said case or on November 13, 1961, Alvarez
sold Lots 773-A, 773-B and another lot for P25,000.00 to Dr. Rodolfo Siason. 1 2
Accordingly, TCT Nos. 30919 and 30920 were issued to Siason, 1 3 who, thereafter,
declared the two lots in his name for assessment purposes. 1 4
Meanwhile, on November 6, 1962, Jesus Yanes, in his own behalf and in
behelf of the other plaintiffs, and assisted by their counsel, led a manifestation in
Civil Case No. 5022 stating that the therein plaintiffs "renounce, forfeit and
quitclaims (sic) any claim, monetary or otherwise, against the defendant Arsenia
Vda. de Fuentebella in connection with the above entitled case." 1 5
On October 11, 1963, a decision was rendered by the Court of First Instance
of Negros Occidental in Civil Case No. 5022, the dispositive portion of which
reads: cdll
In its decision of July 8, 1974, the lower court found that Rodolfo Siason,
who purchased the properties in question thru an agent as he was then in Mexico
pursuing further medical studies, was a buyer in good faith for a valuable
consideration. Although the Yaneses were negligent in their failure to place a
notice of lis pendens "before the Register of Deeds of Negros Occidental in order
to protect their rights over the property in question" in Civil Case No. 5022, equity
demanded that they recover the actual value of the land because the sale thereof
executed between Alvarez and Siason was without court approval. 2 8 The
dispositive portion of the decision states: LexLib
"Under our law, therefore, the general rule is that a party's contractual
rights and obligations are transmissible to the successors. The rule is a
consequence of the progressive 'depersonalization' of patrimonial rights and
duties that, as observed by Victorio Polacco, has characterized the history of
these institutions. From the Roman concept of a relation from person to
person, the obligation has evolved into a relation from patrimony to
patrimony, with the persons occupying only a representative position,
barring those rare cases where the obligation is strictly personal, i.e., is
contracted intuitu personae, in consideration of its performance by a
specific person and by no other. . . ."
Petitioners being the heirs of the late Rosendo Alvarez, they cannot escape
the legal consequences of their father's transaction, which gave rise to the present
claim for damages. That petitioners did not inherit the property involved herein is
of no moment because by legal ction, the monetary equivalent thereof devolved
into the mass of their father's hereditary estate, and we have ruled that the
hereditary assets are always liable in their totality for the payment of the debts of
the estate. 4 2
It must, however, be made clear that petitioners are liable only to the extent
of the value of their inheritance. With this clari cation and considering petitioners'
admission that there are other properties left by the deceased which are suf cient
to cover the amount adjudged in favor of private respondents, we see no cogent
reason to disturb the findings and conclusions of the Court of Appeals. LibLex
WHEREFORE, subject to the clari cation herein above stated, the assailed
decision of the Court of Appeals is hereby AFFIRMED. Costs against petitioners.
SO ORDERED.
Gutierrez, Jr., Feliciano and Cortes, JJ., concur.
Bidin, J., took no part.
Footnotes
9. Exh. 3-Alvarez.
10. Exh. 2-Siason.
11. Civil Case No. 5022; Exhibit B.
12. Exhibit F.
13. Exhibits 12 and 13.
23. Exhibit 9.
24. Civil Case No. 8474.
25. Record on Appeal, pp. 8-9.
26. Record on Appeal, p. 36.
27. Ibid., p. 63.
28. Ibid., pp. 95-99.
29. Record on Appeal, pp. 100-101.
30. Por rio V. Sison Jr. J., ponente Abdulwahid A. Bidin, Marcelino R. Veloso and
Desiderio P. Jurado , JJ. concurring.
31. Rollo, p. 32.
32. Rollo, p. 32.
33. Rollo, p. 119.