HILARIO TANATO, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLANT, VS. GAUDENCIO SANIEL AND DIONISIO JAKOSALEM, AS SHERIFF OF CEBU, DEFENDANTS AND APPELLEES.

The purpose of the present action is to recover the possession, together with
damages, of a certain piece or parcel of land, together with the buildings
thereon, which piece or parcel of land is particularly described in paragraph 3
of the complaint.

The facts out of which the action grew may be stated as follows: That
sometime prior to the month of June, 1910, a judgment for a sum of money was
rendered by the judge of the Court of First Instance of the Province of Cebu
against Patricio Niera and in favor of Gonzalo Villareal; that an execution was
issued upon said judgment, and the land in question was attached arid sold at
public auction on the 15th day of June, 1910, by the sheriff, to the defendant
Gaudencio Saniel; that later, on the 2d day of August, 1911, the said sheriff
executed and delivered to the said Gaudencio Saniel a sheriff’s deed to the land
in question; that at the time of the attachment the plaintiff herein notified
the sheriff that the said property belonged to him. The plaintiff contends that
he became the owner of said parcel of land by a purchase of the same from the
said Patricio Niera for the sum of P200 in the month of November, 1909. The
defendants answered the petition of the plaintiff and alleged that said sale or
transfer of the land in question by Patricio Niera to the plaintiff herein was a
false and simulated sale.

Upon the issue thus presented the lower court found as a fact that the
alleged sale by Patricio Niera to Hilario Tanato was a feigned, false and
simulated sale; that said sale was fictitious; that the parcel of land, at the
time of the execution was still the property of Patricio Niera, and rendered a
judgment absolving the defendants from all liability under the complaint, with
costs against the plaintiff. From that judgment the plaintiff appealed.

In his first assignment of error the plaintiff alleges that the lower court
committed an error in deciding that the said sale by Patricio Niera to the
plaintiff herein was fictitious and of no value. The facts which induced the
lower court to believe that said sale was fictitious were that the vendor
Patricio Niera continued to occupy the same; that he continued to occupy the
same from the date of the sale until after the time of the attachment without
paying rent therefor to his vendee; that the evidence of said sale (Exhibit No.
1) was a private document and had not been recorded in the registry of property.
Patricio Niera admitted that he continued to occupy the house and land in
question without paying rent therefor until after the sheriff had attached the
same under said execution; that soon thereafter he abandoned the house and land
and ceased to occupy it. The proof further shows that, after the sale under said
execution and after the expiration of the time within which to redeem the same,
a sheriff’s deed was issued to the purchaser Gaudencio Saniel; that when he
(Gaudencio Saniel) took possession of said property under his deed, it was
vacant and unoccupied. It will be remembered that the attachment of the property
in question was made in the month of June, 1910; that a final sheriff’s deed was
issued to the purchaser of the land in question on the 2d day of August, 1911;
that no protest or objection whatever was made by the plaintiff herein on the
date of the attachment nor thereafter, even after the final deed was issued to
the purchaser, until the 31st day of August, 1911, when the present action was
brought.

After a careful examination of the evidence, we are fully persuaded that the
same preponderates in favor of the finding of the lower court. The judgment
appealed from is, therefore, hereby affirmed, with costs. So ordered.

Arellano, C. J., Carson, Araullo, Street, and Malcolm, JJ.,
concur.