G.R. No. L-26153. March 28, 1969
GUALBERTO TENCHAVEZ, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLANT, VS. ATLAS CONSOLIDATED MINING & DEVELOPMENT CO., ET AL. DEFENDANTS, ATLAS CONSOLIDATED MINING & DEVELOPMENT CO., MINDANAO MOTHER L…
DIZON, J.:
On April 14, 1967
plaintiff-appellant Gualberto Tenchavez
and defendant-appellant Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Company filed
in this case a joint petition for judgment in accordance with the compromise agreement
attached thereto in the form of a public instrument executed jointly by them.
On May 24, 1967
We approved said compromise agreement and rendered
judgment in accordance therewith, ordering the parties to comply with all the
terms and stipulations thereof.
On July 1, 1967, however, oppositors I.
V. Binamira and F. B. Barria
filed a motion for the reconsideration of the abovementioned decision, and
praying further that their opposition to the approval of the compromise
agreement and the dismissal of the appeal, as well as their motion to record their attorneys lien, be restored and
disposed of in due course, and that, in the event of an adverse ruling, Atlas
Consolidated Mining and Development Company be ordered to pay them the unpaid
balance of P30,000 acknowledged by it
“confidentially” in its letter to Tenchavez
dated April 19, 1967. In a supplemental
motion for reconsideration filed on July 9 of the same year, the same
parties alleged that they had filed in the Court of First Instance of Cebu Civil Case No. R-10051 to declare the aforesaid compromise agreement fraudulent, illegal and
without force and effect and, as a result, they
prayed that this Court hold in abeyance any action on said compromise agreement
until said civil case is finally resolved.
On August 24, 1967
We issued a resolution requiring the adverse parties
to comment within ten days from notice on the motions for reconsideration just
mentioned.
Ernesto T. Morales filed
his manifestation and comment on September 5, 1967 in which he prayed that the motions for
reconsideration be denied. Atlas
submitted its own comment on September 13, 1967 in which it reiterated its prayer for the
approval of the compromise agreement.
Attys. Elias S.
Mendoza and Domingo
Quibranza, as oppositors,
also filed their comment on October 5, 1967 in which they stated in substance that
“a grant of the motion for reconsideration as well as the supplemental
motion for reconsideration will tend to aid this Honorable Court in resolving
fairly the incident raised in both motions etc.“. Oppositors Binamira and Barria likewise
filed additional observations in relation to the comments submitted by Atty.
Morales and Atlas on October 9, 1967. Tenchavez filed on October 19, 1967 his own reply to the
comments submitted by Atlas and Atty. Morales in which he prayed that the
compromise agreement be declared fraudulent and, in the alternative, that
action on the approval of said agreement be deferred until after Civil Case No.
R-10051 is finally resolved. This was followed
by a manifestation filed by Atlas on January 30, 1968 praying for the denial of the motions for
reconsideration mentioned heretofore.
Finally, on January 3, 1969 a pleading entitled “WITHDRAWAL
OF OPPOSITION TO THE APPROVAL OF THE
COMPROMISE AGREEMENT” was filed by plaintiff-appellant Gualberto
B. Tenchavez, with the marital consent of Elena S. Tenchavez, and by Attys. Barria
and Binamira, praying that “this withdrawal of opposition be approved; that the compromise
judgment of this Hon. Court dated May 24, 1967 be declared final and executory; and that Atlas Consolidated Mining & Dev.
Corp. et also be ordered to
deposit P180,000.00 with the Court of First Instance of Cebu
at once and so that these above related cases be thereafter, deemed settled, closed and terminated”.
Copy of said pleading appears to have been served on Atlas,
through its attorney of record, to Attorneys Ernesto T. Morales, Virgilio Llanto, Elias Mendoza
and Domingo Quibranza and other parties in interest.
On January
10, 1969 We issued a resolution requiring all the parties
concerned to comment on the
pleading mentioned above within
ten days from notice. The record shows
that said comments were filed by Atlas
an January 28, 1969 in which it prayed that the judgment by compromise rendered
in this case be declared final and executory; by Attys. Mendoza and Quibranza on February 14, 1969 who stated therein that
they find “no ground to oppose the step taken by Attys. Binamira and Barrie in withdrawing their opposition to the
approval of the compromise agreement x x x provided that after the withdrawal of said
opposition defendant-appellant Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation will deposit with the
Court of First Instance of Cebu in Civil Case R-10051
of said Court entitled ‘I. B. Binamira et al. vs.
Ernesto T. Morales et al.’ the sum of P180,000 for attorney’s fees and claims
of assignees exclusively as mentioned in a manifestation dated January 27, 1969
filed before this Honorable Court by Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation”; by
defendants-appellants Alfaro Pastor, Jr. and Efrain Pelaez
on February 17, 1969 in which they manifested that they submit the matter to
the sound discretion of this
Court considering all the pleadings filed by the parties; by Atty. Ernesto T. Morales on February 20, 1969 in which he states that he has no
objection to the withdrawal of the opposition of Tenchavez
and others to the approval of the compromise agreement dated April 12, 1967 and approved by this Court in its
decision promulgated on May 24, 1967, subject to certain conditions set forth
therein.
As it appears that the parties concerned have no
objection to the withdrawal of the opposition filed by Tenchavez,
Binamira and Barria to the
approval of the compromise agreement mentioned heretofore and certain
conditions set forth in two of them constitute no reason for the
disapproval of the withdrawal, it is hereby resolved that said opposition be
considered as it is hereby considered withdrawn. As a consequence, the judgment by compromise
rendered heretofore is declared final and
executory.
Concepcion, C.J., Reyes, JBL, Makalintal, Zaldivar, Sanchez, Ruiz
Castro, Fernando, Capistrano, and Barredo, JJ., concur.
Teehankee, J., took no part.