LIGON vs. CA

  

LETICIA P. LIGON, petitioner v. COURT OF APPEALS, JUDGE CELIA LIPANA-REYES, Presiding Judge, Branch 81, Regional Trial Court of Quezon City,

 IGLESIA NI KRISTO and the REGISTER OF DEEDS OF QUEZON CITY, respondents

G.R. No. 107751 | June 1, 1995

 

FACTS:

On 19 October 1990 respondent Iglesia ni Kristo (INK) filed with the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City a complaint for specific performance with damages against the Islamic Directorate of the Philippines (IDP)

 

INK alleged in its complaint that by virtue of an Absolute Deed of Sale dated 20 April 1989 IDP sold to it (2) parcels of land located at Tandang Sora. Stipulated in the deed of sale that the IDP, shall undertake to evict all squatters and illegal occupants in the property within (45) days from the execution of the contract. IDP failed to fulfill this obligation. Hence INK prayed that the trial court order IDP to comply with its obligation and asked for damages.

 

IDP alleged in its answer that it was INK which violated the contract by delaying the payment of the purchase price and prayed that the contract of sale be rescinded

 

INK filed a motion in the same case praying that petitioner Leticia Ligon, who was in possession of the certificates of title over the properties as mortgagee of IDP, be directed to surrender the certificates to the Register of Deeds of Quezon City for the registration of the Absolute Deed of Sale in its name.

 

Ligon filed an opposition to the motion on the ground that the IDP was not served copy of the motion, and the ownership of INK over the property was still in issue since rescission was sought by the IDP as a counterclaim.

 

Trial court granted the motion of INK and ordered petitioner to surrender to INK the owner's copy for the registration of the Absolute Deed of Sale in the latter's name and the annotation of the

 

Ligon filed a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals seeking the annulment of the two orders.

 

IDP intervened alleging that the sale of the properties was not executed by it but was made possible by a fake Board of Trustees, hence, the sale is void. IDP brought the matter before the SEC which later declared that the sale of the of the properties was void.

 

ISSUE:  Whether or not the surrender by petitioner of the certificates of title to the Register of Deeds as ordered by the trial court will create substantial injustice to petitioner.

 

RULING:

No, the surrender by petitioner of the certificates of title to the Register of Deeds as ordered by the trial court will not create substantial injustice to petitioner.

 

The principal action filed by INK was for specific performance with damages based on a document of sale. Such action was well within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Regional Trial Court. When IDP, the defendant in the trial court, did not question the genuineness and validity of said deed of sale and its obligations thereunder, the summary judgment issued by the court granting the reliefs sought by INK was also an exercise of its general jurisdiction. Hence, when INK filed a motion for the issuance of an order from the same court to compel the holder of the duplicate certificates of title to surrender the same to the Register of Deeds for the registration of the deed of sale subject of the principal action, the motion was a necessary incident to the main case.

 

Even while Sec. 107 of P.D. 1529 speaks of a petition which can be filed by one who wants to compel another to surrender the certificates of title to the Register of Deeds, this does not preclude a party to a pending case to include as incident therein the relief stated under Sec. 107, especially if the subject certificates of title to be surrendered are intimately connected with the subject matter of the principal action. This principle is based on expediency and in accordance with the policy against multiplicity of suits.

 

The records of the case show that the subsisting mortgage lien of petitioner appears in the certificates of title Nos. 26520 and 26521. Hence, the order of the trial court directing the surrender of the certificates to the Register of Deeds in order that the deed of sale in favor of INK can be registered, cannot in any way prejudice her rights and interests as a mortgage of the lots. Any lien annotated on the previous certificates of title which subsists should be incorporated in or carried over to the new transfer certificates of title

 

Thus, all subsequent purchasers must respect the mortgage whether the transfer to them be with or without the consent of the mortgagee, for such mortgage until discharged follows the property.

 

To grant the petition and compel INK to file a new action in order to obtain the same reliefs it asked in the motion before the trial court is to encourage litigations where no substantial rights are prejudiced.

 

WHEREFORE, the appealed decision of the Court of Appeals dated 28 October 1992 is AFFIRMED.

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