FERNANDO CORPUZ, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLANT, VS. HON. DAMIAN L. JIMENEZ, ET AL., DEFENDANT AND APPELLEE.

Appeal by Fernando
Corpuz from the order dated March 22, 1960 of the Court of First Instance of
Rizal in Civil Case No. Q-4916 denying his petition for relief from the
judgment of the Municipal Court of Quezon City in Civil Case No. 4689.

In May 1958, appellee J.M. Tuason & Co., Inc. filed with the
Municipal Court of Quezon City a complaint for ejectment against appellant
(Civil Case No. 4689), alleg­ing that the latter, on December 1, 1957,
illegally entered into the possession of a portion of appellee’s land located
at Barrio North Tatalon, Quezon City, and constructed his house thereon.  After several postponments, the court, on July 10, 1959, issued an order in
open court and in the presence of the parties and their respective counsel,
setting the case for trial on August 11 of the same year.  As appellant and his counsel failed to appear
on said date, the court proceeded to hear appellee’s evidence, after which it
rendered judgment ordering appellant to vacate the premises and to pay
reasonable rents therefor until the same is vacated.

Judgment having become final, the court, upon motion of appellee,
issued the corresponding writ of execution on October 21, 1959.  On November 9 of the same year, ap­pellant filed a
motion to lift the writ of execution on the ground that the filing on April 24,
1959 by appellee of another complaint against him for the recovery of pos­session
of the same parcel of land with the Court of First Instance of Rizal (Civil
Case No. Q-4341) constituted an implied waiver or abandonment of the first case.  Appellee objected to the motion alleging that
the land subject-matter of Civil Case No. Q-4341 was different from that of the
case decided
by the inferior court.  After the court
had denied said motion on December 9, 1959, appellee moved for a special order
of demolition.  Before the court could
act thereon, appellant filed on January 15, 1960 a petition in the Court of
First Instance of Rizal (Civil Action No. Q-4916) en­titled “A writ
of Certiorari or Relief from Judgment with Preliminary and Mandatory
Injunction”, for the purpose of annulling the decision of the Municipal
Court of Quezon City in Civil Case No. 4689 and its order of December 9, 1959
denying his motion to lift the writ of execution is­sued therein.  On March 22, 1960, the lower court issued the
appealed order.

In the Court of Appeals – where the appeal had been originally
filed – appellee filed a motion for the dismissal of the appeal on the ground
that appellant had voluntarily vacated the premises subjectmatter thereof by
removing his house and other constructions therefrom and that, there­fore, the
issues raised in the present appeal had become moot and academic.  The Court of Appeals required appellant to
answer the motion, but as the latter filed no such answer, the court resolved
to take up the motion when the appeal is decided on the merits.  Thereafter the case was certified to Us.

We take appellant’s failure to answer the motion mentioned in the
preceding paragraph as an implied acquies­cence thereto.

WHEREFORE, the appeal is dismissed, without costs.

Concepcion, C.J., Reyes, Makalintal, Zaldivar, Sanchez, Ruiz
Castro, Angeles, and Fernando, JJ., concur.

Bengzon, J., on leave.