LTD Case Digest - 2

CONSORCIA TENIO-OBSEQUIO, ET AL. vs.
COURT OF APPEALS
G.R. No. 107967 March 1, 1994
REGALADO, J.:
FACTS OF THE CASE:
This petition for review on certiorari seeks to annul and set aside the decision of the
Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 22990, dated July 9, 1992, which reversed the
judgment of the trial court.
The subject matter of the present petition is a parcel of land, designated as Lot No.
846, Pls-225 located at Andanan, Baguyan, Agusan del Sur. This lot was registered
in the name of herein respondent Eufronio Alimpoos and which he acquired through
a homestead application.1 The said land is now registered in the name of herein
petitioner, Consorcia Tenio-Obsequio,
On September 10, 1986, private respondents filed a complaint in the

court a quo against herein petitioners Consorcia Tenio and her husband, Orlando
Obsequio, and the heirs of Eduardo Deguro for recovery of possession and
ownership, alleging that sometime in 1964, they mortgaged the land to Eduardo
Deguro for P10,000.00; that to guaranty the loan they delivered to the latter the
original certificate of title to the land; that on June 25, 1965, Eduardo Deguro and his
wife, without the knowledge and consent of herein private respondents, prepared a
document of sale and through misrepresentation and other manipulations made it
appear that private respondents sold the land to them.
This deed of sale was annotated at the back of the said certificate of title as Entry
No. 16007. By virtue thereof, Original Certificate of Title No. P-1181 in the name of
Eufronio Alimpoos was cancelled and Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-1360 was
correspondingly issued in favor of Eduardo Deguro. After the death of Eduardo
Deguro, his heirs sold the land to Consorcia Tenio-Obsequio. On September 22,
1970, Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-1421 was issued in her name. It was
allegedly only in 1982, when Eufronio Alimpoos received a Certificate of Agricultural
Leasehold of his land from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), that he
learned that the land was already titled in the name of another.
In their answer, the heirs of Eduardo Deguro claimed that respondent Alimpoos
spouses sold the land to their late parents on June 25, 1965 for a consideration of
P10,000.00, as evidenced by the deed of absolute sale; that as a result thereof,
Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-1360 was issued in favor of their parents, that on
April 23, 1970, after the death of their parents, they sold the said land to Consorcia
Tenio-Obsequio; that on September 22, 1970, a new Transfer Certificate of Title No.
1421 was issued in the name of the latter. Consorcia Tenio-Obsequio, on the other
hand, maintains that she purchased the land in question from the heirs of Deguro in
good faith, for valuable consideration and without knowledge of any flaw or defect
whatsoever.
The trial court, giving credence to the evidence presented by herein petitioners,
defendants therein, ruled in their favor and rendered judgment
On appeal, respondent Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the lower court and
rendered judgment:
Petitioners then filed a motion for reconsideration of the said decision which was
denied by the Court of Appeals in its resolution dated November 6, 1992, 5 hence the
instant recourse by petitioners.
After a careful review of the records of this case and the legal consideration
applicable to the proven facts thereof, we find the petition at bar to be meritorious.
Reconveyance of the land in question to the original owner is not in order.
Herein respondent Alimpoos, as the original owner of the said land, is assailing the
title of petitioner on the ground that their original certificate of title over the said land
was cancelled by virtue of a forged deed of absolute sale.
ISSUE: WON the petitioner, Consorcia Tenio-Obsequio is the rightful owner of the
subject land
HELD:
The Court ruled in the affirmative.
The court held that a purchaser in good faith and for value is one who buys the
property of another, without notice that some other person has a right to or interest in
such property, and pays a full and fair price for the same at the time of such
purchase or before he has notice of the claim or interest of some other person in the
property6 In consonance with this accepted legal definition, petitioner Consorcia
Tenio-Obsequio is a purchaser in good faith. There is no showing whatsoever nor
even an allegation that herein petitioner had any participation, voluntarily or
otherwise, in the alleged forgery.
Nor can we charge said petitioner with negligence since, at the time of the sale to
her, the land was already registered in the name of Eduardo Deguro and the tax
declaration was also issued in the latter's name. It was also clearly indicated at the
back of the original certificate of title that Eduardo Deguro acquired ownership over
the said land by virtue of the deed of sale executed in his favor. There is no
annotation, defect or flaw in the title that would have aroused any suspicion as to its
authenticity. Such being the case, petitioner has the right to rely on what appears on
the face of the certificate of title.
The main purpose of the Torrens system is to avoid possible conflicts of title to real
estate and to facilitate transactions relative thereto by giving the public the right to
rely upon the face of a Torrens certificate of title and to dispense with the need of
inquiring further, except when the party concerned has actual knowledge of facts and
circumstances that should impel a reasonably cautious man to make such further
inquiry. Where innocent third persons, relying on the correctness of the certificate of
title thus issued, acquire, rights over the property, the court cannot disregard such
rights and order the total cancellation of the certificate.
The Decision of CA was reversed and the decision of the court a quo was reinstated.

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CONSORCIA TENIO-OBSEQUIO, ET AL. vs.

FACTS OF THE CASE:

On September 10, 1986, private respondents filed a complaint in the

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