THE DIRECTOR OF LANDS, APPLICANT, VS. CRISTOBAL ABAGAT ET AL., CLAIMANTS. SISENANDO PALARCA ET AL., APPELLANTS.

The spouses, Juan Soriano and Vicenta Macaraeg, were the owners of
twelve parcels of land. Vicenta Macaraeg died in November, 1909,
leaving a large number of collateral heirs but no descendants.
Litigation between the surviving husband, Juan Soriano, and the heirs
of Vicenta Macaraeg immediately arose, and the herein appellant
Sisenando Palarca acted as Soriano’s lawyer. On May 2, 1918, Soriano
executed a deed for the aforesaid twelve parcels of land in favor of
Sisenando Palarca, and on the following day, May 3,1918, Palarca filed
an application for the registration of the land described in the deed.
After hearing, the Court of First Instance declared that the deed was
invalid by virtue of the provisions of article 1459 of the Civil Code,
which prohibits lawyers and solicitors from purchasing property or
rights involved in any litigation in which they may take part by virtue
of their profession. The application for registration was consequently
denied, and upon appeal by Palarca to the Supreme Court, the judgment
of the lower court was affirmed by a decision promulgated November 16,
1925.^[1]

In the meantime cadastral case No. 30 of the Province of Tarlac was
instituted, and on August 21, 1923, Eleuteria Macaraeg, as
administratrix of the estate of Vicenta Macaraeg, filed claims for the
parcels in question. Buenaventura Lavitoria, administrator of the
estate of Juan Soriano, did likewise and so did Sisenando Palarca. In a
decision dated June 21, 1927, the Court of First Instance, Judge
Carballo presiding, rendered judgment in favor of Palarca and ordered
the registration of the land in his name. Upon appeal to this court by
the administrators of the estates of Juan Soriano and Vicenta Macaraeg,
the judgment of the court below was reversed and the land adjudicated
to the two estates as conjugal property of the deceased spouses.^[2]

Upon the return of the record to the Court of First Instance, the
administrators filed a motion asking that a writ of possession for the
land be issued in their favor and against Sisenando Palarca. Palarca
opposed the motion on the ground that he could not legally be ejected
until he had been reimbursed for the consideration stated in the deed
hereinbefore referred to, as well as for land taxes and for
improvements, the total amount of the reimbursement being P16,250.

The opposition of Palarca was overruled by the court, and the motion
of the administrators granted. Palarca thereupon brought the present
appeal.

We can find no error in the appealed orders. The appellant Palarca
is a lawyer and is presumed to know the law. He must, therefore, from
the beginning, have been well aware of the defect in his title and is,
consequently, a possessor in bad faith. In cases of ejectment only the
possessor in good faith may retain the land until the necessary
expenses have been refunded (art. 453, Civil Code). The appellant has
been a possessor in bad faith for many years and is bound to account
for the fruits received and for those which the lawful possessor might
have received (art. 455, Civil Code.) The probability is that the
fruits are much more than equivalent to the expenditures and
improvements made by the appellant. We may say further that, under the
circumstances of the case, we find it difficult to believe that the
appellant Palarca ever paid any part of the consideration stated in the
deed executed in his favor by Juan Soriano, and there is room for more
than a suspicion that the deed was purely fictitious, and, in our
opinion, article 1308 of the Civil Code has no application to this
case. It may also be noted that the appellant has made no offer to
indemnify the appellees for the fruits received by him from the lands
in question. The orders appealed from are therefore affirmed with the
costs against the appellant. So ordered.

Johnson, Street, Malcolm, Johns, Romualdez, and Villa-Real, JJ., concur.

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^[1] G. R. No. 24329, Palarca vs. Director of Lands, not reported.

^[2] G. R. No. 28226, Director of Lands vs. Abagat, promulgated May 21, 1928, not reported.