JORGE YAMBAO AND FRANCISCA GARCIA, PLAINTIFFS AND APPELLEES, VS. PO HUAT SUY ET AL., DEFENDANTS AND APPELLANTS.

This is an appeal taken by the defendants Po Huat Suy, Venanck)
Viray, Felipe Castro, Joaquin Yuseco and Celestino Macapinlac, the latter as
deputy sheriff of Pampanga, from the judgment of the justice of the peace court
of the capital of Pampanga, acting as Court of First Instance by delegation,
holding the sale made by said deputy sheriff of Pampanga to Joaquin Yuseco, of
two parcels of land described in the complaint, to be null and void, with costs
against the defendants.

In support of their appeal the appellants assign five alleged
errors as committed by the trial court in its judgment, to wit:

“1. The lower court erred in holding that the preponderance of
the evidence is in favor of the plaintiffs.

“2. The lower court erred in holding that the conveyance of the
land in question made to the plaintiffs was not fraudulent.

“3. The lower court erred in holding that the sale of the lands
which are the subject of the complaint, made by the deputy sheriff of Pampanga
at a public auction, in favor of Po Huat Suy, was null and void.

“4. The lower court erred in holding that the lands in question
belong to Felipe Castro; one of the defendants, against whom a writ of execution
wasissued in civil case No. 26691 of the Court of First Instance of Manila.

“5. The lower court erred in sentencing the defendants to the
payment of the, costs of the action.”

The pertinent facts necessary for the solution of the question
raised in the appeal are the following:

On August 6, 1924, the herein defendant and appellant Po Huat
Suy, through his attorney Joaquin Yuseco, filed a complaint in the Court of
First Instance of Manila in case No. 26691, against his herein codefendants and
coappellants Venancio Viray and Felipe Castro in order to compel them to pay him
the sum of P800.65 which they owed him, A petition for a preliminary attachment
against the property of said defendants was filed together with the complaint,
which was granted by the court, and a writ of preliminary attachment issued, the
same being levied August 22, 1924, on the property of Felipe Castro, for the
reason that no property belonging to the principal deb^r Venancio Viray was
found that was subject to attachment, the property here in dispute being
included in the prqperty attached.

On December 9, 1924, the Court of First Instance of Pampanga,
after the proper proceedings, rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff Po
Huat Suy and against the defendants Venancio Viray and Felipe Castro, ordering
the latter to pay the former the sum of P800.65 with legal interest from August
7, 1924, and the costs.

On October 12, 1925, Felipe Castro, with his grandchildren
Apolonia Castro (assisted by her husband), Antonio Garcia, and Lourdes Castro,
with his coheirs Julia, Julian, Feliciano, Marciana and Conrado Castro, sold to
the spouses Jorge Yambao and Francisca Garcia, the herein plaintiffs and
appellees, the parcels of land now in question for the sum of P3,000.

Said judgment having become final, a writ of execution was
issued, which was complied with by the deputy sheriff. Celestino Macapinlac, one
of the defendants and appellants herein, requiring said defendants Venancio
Viray and Felipe Castro on March 25, 1926, to pay the amount of said judgment;
and inasmuch as they did not do so, he levied execution on the right, title,
interest and participation that Felipe Castro had or might have in the property
in question, and that had been made the subject of a preliminary attachment, and
after due publication, sold said lands at public auction on April 30, 1926, the
judgment creditor having been the highest bidder, and to whom was adjudicated
said property, the proper certificate of sale was issued, which was registerd in
the book for the registration of documents concerning unregisterd lands, kept by
the registrar of deeds of Pampanga.

From the foregoing it will be seen that when the herein
plaintiffs Jorge Yambao and Francisca Garcia purchased of Felipe Castro and his
coheirs the parcels of land in question, the latter were already under a
preliminary attachment, which, in the absence of proof to the contrary is
presumed to have been presented to the registrar of deeds of Pampanga, who noted
it in the proper register (sections 334, No. 14, and 429 of the Code of Civil
Procedure), which constitutes a presumed notification to said purchasers of the
acquisition by the judgment creditor of a legal lien-on the right, title,
interest and participation of Felipe Castro, as judgment debtor, in said lands.
As the judgment creditor has a preferred right by virtue of the attachment
levied in his favor on the right, title, interest and participation of Felipe
Castro in the lands in dispute, and therefore, to the proceeds of said sale for
the amount of the judgment rendered in his favor, the sale made by the deputy
sheriff of Pampanga of the right, title, interest, and participation of said
Felipe Castro is legal and valid; and the purchase made by said Po Huat Suy
through his attorney Joaquin Yuseco for the sum of P750 is also legal and valid.

It appearing from the deed of sale Exhibit A, that the
plaintiffs-appellees Jorge Yambao and Francisca Garcia purchased the right,
title, interest and participation not only of Felipe Castro in the lands here in
question but also of the grandchildren and coheirs of said Felipe Castro in the
same lands, and since said grandchildren and coheirs were not parties to the
litigation in which said execution was issued, the rights of the latter acquired
by the plaintiffs-appellees were not affected, either by the attachment or by
the sale.

In conclusion, we are of the opinion and so hold that the
purchaser of a property subject to an attachment legally and validly levied
thereon, may ask for the execution and sale at public auction of said land for
the satisfaction of a judgment rendered in his favor, and the sale made by
virtue of the proper writ of execution is legal and valid, and the purchaser at
said auction acquires the right of the judgment debtor subject to the latter’s
right of redemption within the period provided by law.

In virtue whereof, the judgment appealed from is reversed, and
the sale is held valid with respect to Felipe Castro’s right, title, interest
and participation in the lands which are the subject of this litigation, the
defendants being absolved from the complaint, which is hereby dismissed with the
costs against the plaintiffs-appellees. So ordered.

Avanceña, C. J., Johnson, Street, Malcolm, Villamor, Ostrand,
and Romualdez, JJ., concur.