BASILISA GENEROSO AND NARCISO MERCED, PETITIONERS, VS. JUDGE CIPRIANO VAMENTA, JR., COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE, DUMAGUETE CITY BRANCH III, AND HEIRS OF TEODORA C. NICOLAS LAGASCA, …

The Court of Appeals in its decision dated August 7, 1975 allowed
Basilisa Generoso to redeem for P4,000 from Teodora A. Nicolas Lagasca
the one-sixth pro-indiviso share of Basilisa’s co-owner,
Gorgonia Generoso, in Lot No. 6396 of the Dumaguete cadastre, with an
area of 1,234 square meters (with building) located at the corner of
Alfonso XIII and Noblefranca Streets and assessed at P24,340. The
redemption should be made within thirty days from the finality of the judgment.

This Court dismissed Lagasca’s petition for review of the Appellate
Court’s decision which became final and executory on April 4, 1976
(L-41915). Basilisa had deposited in 1970 the redemption price of P4,000 pursuant to the lower court’s judgment. But in 1975,
while the case was pending in the Appellate Court, her lawyer, Jose G.
Hernando, Jr., withdrew the P4,000 from the court and used it for his
personal purposes.

Basilisa made another deposit of P4,000 on November 29, 1976 to
effect the redemption. Judge Vamenta in his order of February 11, 1977
disallowed the redemption because it should have been made on or before
May 4, 1976, the last day of the thirty-day period (p. 18, Rollo). This order is being assailed in the instant certiorari petition filed on June 2, 1977 through lawyers Edelmiro A. Amante and Nemesio D. Tejero, Jr.

Hernando admitted in his comment that he withdrew the redemption money (pp. 46-48, Rollo).
His misconduct was referred to the Solicitor General in the resolution
dated May 5, 1978. His case is pending as Administrative Case No.
1938.

In the meantime, Basilisa, without informing this Court, sold on November 28, 1977,
for P40,000 to Natividad Delgado, the alleged common-law wife of Ang
Tay, the disputed one-sixth interest in the property in litigation with
an area of 235 square meters (pp. 151-152, Rollo).

Lawyer Henry Nicolas, an heir of deceased respondent Lagasca, and one
Vincent Torres, in their affidavits of July 23, 1980, swore that Ang Tay
had purchased the five-sixth share of the five Generosos in the
property and that Ang Tay had been negotiating for the purchase of the
one-sixth share in the name of his mother, Teodora C. Nicolas Lagasca
(p. 116-117, Rollo).

By reason of the sale, Felix M. Lagrito, son-in-law and counsel of
Lagasca, filed on August 11, 1980 a motion to dismiss this case because
the petitioners have no more interest in the case (p. 115, Rollo).

As the contending parties have sold to Ang Tay for distinct
considerations the controverted one-sixth portion, the dismissal of the
instant case is unavoidable. “Where all substantial interest in the
controversy has been parted with or extinguished, a motion for dismissal
of the appeal is proper” (J. Moreland in Velasco vs. Rosenberg, 29
Phil. 212).

WHEREFORE, the motion is granted. This case is dismissed for having become moot and academic. No costs.

SO ORDERED.

Concepcion, Jr., Guerrero, Escolin, and Cuevas, JJ., concur.

Makasiar, J., (Chairman), no part.

Abad Santos, J., reserves his vote.