G.R. No. L-49807. May 15, 1981
AUGUSTO D. APO, PRESCILLANO S. AGUINALDO, ROMEO B. IGLESIA, CEFERINO RIVERA & THE HON. NELLY L. ROMERO VALDELLON, JUDGE, CFI OF RIZAL, BRANCH XXII PETITIONERS, VS. THE HONORABLE…
MELENCIO-HERRERA, J.:
This Petition for Review
on Certiorari of the Decision of the Court of Appeals[1] stems from the following facts:
Petitioners and private
respondent were the incorporators of Apollo Surveying Company, Inc., a
corporation primarily engaged in the business of land survey, formed sometime
in May 1971. Private respondent, a
Geodetic Engineer, was the President and General Manager, while petitioner Augusto D. Apo was the
Treasurer. Private respondent alleges
that except for himself, the other incorporators, petitioners herein, had not
actually paid for their shares of stock.
On July 15,
1974, private
respondent encashed Treasury Warrant No. B-03, 840,
352 dated July 11, 1974 in the amount of P23,257.80, drawn by
the Department of Agrarian Reform in favor of the said corporation as part
payment of the contract price of the subdivision survey conducted by the
company. The warrant appeared to have
been endorsed by Terencio C. Rañon
and Augusto D. Apo, as the
authorized officers of the corporation.
Petitioner Apo,
however, denied the signature purporting to be his and disclaimed knowledge of
the encashment.
A complaint for Estafa thru
Falsification of Public/Official Document was filed against private respondent
with the Complaints and Action Branch of the Department of National
Defense. Petitioners, in a proper Board
resolution also ousted private respondent as President and General Manager.
Private respondent
countered with an action for damages against petitioners in the Court of First
Instance of Rizal, Branch XXII, docketed as Civil
Case No. 19866. After the issues were
joined, the case was set for pre-trial.
Petitioners and their counsel failed to appear, and private respondent
was allowed to present evidence ex-parte.
On January 15, 1976, the Court, presided by Judge Onofre A. Villaluz, rendered a
Decision ordering petitioners to pay private respondent actual, moral and
exemplary damages, as well as attorney’s fees, all in the total amount of
P41,500.00, for having entered into an “illegal conspiracy of maliciously
filing the Estafa case” against respondent just
to harass him, which charge was subsequently dropped for lack of merit.
After the judgment became final, private respondent moved for the
issuance of a Writ of Execution on May
13, 1976. The Court,
presided by respondent Judge Nelly L. Romero Valdellon,
granted the motion. The property of
petitioner Augusto D. Apo,
covered by TCT No. 163354, with an area of 3,000
square meters, situated at Tandang
Sora Avenue, Quezon City, was attached and
sold at public auction. On July 7, 1976, a Certificate of Sale
was issued in favor of private respondent as the highest bidder.
Meanwhile, re-investigation of the Estafa
case was conducted. Asst. Fiscal Ruben
T. Reyes recommended the filing of the Information for the said offense. Criminal Case No. 28362 for Estafa thru Falsification of a Public and/or Official
Document was subsequently instituted in the Court of First Instance of Manila
against private respondent.
On March
11, 1977,
petitioners moved to set aside the Decision in the Damages Case and to
recall the Writ of Execution issued on the ground that petitioner Prescillano S. Aguinaldo was not
notified of the pretrial on January 7,
1976. “For want of due
process and in the interest of justice,” Judge Valdellon,
on October 10, 1977, set
aside the Decision of January 15, 1976,
recalled the Writ of Execution, and re-set the case for pre-trial.
Private respondent sought reconsideration. Petitioner Apo,
for his part, requested for the cancellation of the entry or annotation of the
public auction sale on TCT No. 163354. On January
30, 1978, the Court denied reconsideration and granted petitioner Apo‘s Motion for
cancellation of entry.
A Petition for Certiorari and Mandamus with
Injunction assailing the lower Court’s Orders of October 10, 1977 and January 30, 1978, and seeking to declare its Decision of January 15, 1976 final, was filed by
private respondent with the Court of Appeals (CA-G.R.
No. SP-07664). On October 18, 1978, the latter Court revoked the
challenged Orders; declared the Decision of January 15, 1976 final and executory;
and directed the respondent Court to issue an order to execute the necessary
final bill of sale to consolidate the ownership of the property under TCT No. 163354 in favor of Terencio
Rañon.
Petitioners’ Motion for reconsideration of the said Decision was denied
by the Appellate Court.
Petitioners filed with this Court the present Petition seeking to
set aside the Decision of the Court of Appeals, arguing that the rule on
finality of judgment must yield to the right to a day in Court; that final
judgment may be modified or altered if subsequent facts and circumstances would
render its execution unjust; that final judgment may be annulled on the ground
of fraud; that the rule of res judicata may be disregarded if its application
would involve the sacrifice of justice to technicalities.
Required to comment,
private respondent asserts that petitioners were not deprived of their day in
Court; that they never pursued their move for a new trial; and that there must
be an end to every litigation.
After petitioners replied
to private respondent’s comment this Court gave due course to the petition, and
required the parties to present their respective memoranda. The parties complied.
In the meantime, the records show that on March 20, 1978 a Decision was rendered by the
Court of First Instance of Manila, then Judge Bernardo P. Fernandez, presiding,
finding private respondent Rañon guilty of Estafa thru Falsification of a Public or Official document.[2]
Petitioners stressed this fact in their Memorandum as they prayed for a
reversal of the judgment of respondent Appellate Court on the basis of
supervening facts. Private respondent,
on the other hand, emphasized his argument that the trial Court judgment had
become final and could not have been set aside by respondent Judge after 434
days from the date of its finality.
We deemed the case
submitted for decision on August 13, 1979.
On April 15, 1981,
petitioner Augusto D. Apo
and respondent Terencio C. Rañon,
assisted by their respective counsels, “after a full and exhaustive
consideration of all the issues involved” submitted a Compromise Agreement
to this Court for approval. The
Agreement reads:
“After a full and exhaustive consideration of all the issues
involved in the instant case, together with the related cases CA-G.R. No. SP-07664 and Civil Case No. 19866, Court of First
Instance of Rizal, Branch XXII, the parties have
finally come to an amicable settlement and agree on the following:
1. For and in consideration of the sum of FIFTY
THOUSAND PESOS (P50,000.00), Philippine Currency, receipt of which is hereby
acknowledged and confessed, and in cash, by Terencio Rañon is hereby reconveying and
transferring, by way of redemption, the parcel of land covered by and embraced
in Transfer Certificate of Title No. 163354, Registry of Deeds of Quezon City, to petitioner Augusta D. Apo,
free from all other liens and encumbrances and for this purpose, said private
respondent Terencio Rañon
authorizes, empowers and allows the Register of Deeds of Quezon
City to cancel, lift and obliterate the annotation of the Certificate of Sale
in his favor in Transfer Certificate of Title No. 163354 inscribed under
Primary Entry T-820 and on all titles derived therefrom
such as Transfer Certificates of Title Nos. 237487, 237488, 237489, 237490,
237491, 237492, 237493, 237494 and 237531 inscribed under Primary Entry No.
5682;
2. That, likewise, private respondent Terencio Rañon, by reason and on
account of the redemption of the property embraced in Transfer Certificate of
Title 163354, including all subsequent and derivative titles therefrom, releases and discharges the said title and
parcel of land from any and all liability arising out and in connection with
Civil Case No. 19866, Court of First Instance of Rizal,
Branch XXII, entitled Terencio Rañon
vs. Augusto D. Apo, et al.;
3. As a consequence of the redemption, as aforestated, the parties hereby mutually agree to discharge
and release each other from any and all liability arising out of and in
connection with Civil Case No. 19866, Court of First Instance of Rizal, Branch XXII and in CA-G.R.
No. SP-07664.
WHEREFORE, it is most respectfully prayed of this Honorable
Tribunal that judgment be rendered approving the foregoing Compromise
Agreement.
Quezon City
for Manila, April 3, 1981.
(sgd.) (sgd.)
TERENCIO RAÑON AUGUSTO D. APO
Private Respondent Petitioner
Assisted by:
BERNARDO R. LAURETA ALFREDO
C. FLORES
(Counsel for the Private Respondent) (Counsel
for the Petitioner)
Rm. 210 Bank of P.I. Building 2nd
Floor, Castro Building
Aurora Boulevard, 58
Timog Avenue, Quezon City”
Cubao, Quezon City”
Of the four petitioners, only petitioner Augusto
D. Apo signed the Compromise Agreement. However, the property attached and
subsequently sold at public auction to private respondent covered by TCT
No. 163354, belongs to Apo
alone, and he appears to be the principal petitioner. It is also to be noted that the Agreement
correctly excludes any stipulation with respect to the criminal case for Estafa.
WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered approving the Compromise Agreement as hereinabove
reproduced, and the parties are enjoined to abide by its terms and
conditions.
The instant Petition is hereby dismissed. Without costs.
SO ORDERED.
Teehankee, (Chairman), Makasiar, Fernandez, and
Guerrero, JJ., concur.
[1]
Penned by J. Rodolfo A. Nocon, and concurred in by JJ. Luis B. Reyes and Rafael C. Climaco.
[2]
pp. 90-98, Rollo.