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[G.R. No. 166445.� February 9, 2005]
DE CASTRO vs. UTILITY SAVINGS
THIRD DIVISION
Gentlemen:
Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of this Court dated FEB 9 2005.
G.R. No. 166445 (Zenaida de Castro and Sps. Ramir and Alona de Castro vs. Utility Savings and Loan Association, Inc.)
Before us is this petition for review on certiorari assailing the May 21, 2004 decision [1] cralaw of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 79349. This assailed decision of the appellate court dismissed the appeal thereat filed by the herein petitioners challenging the order dated November 21, 2002 of the Regional Trial Court at Batangas City, Branch 2 which denied petitioners' urgent motion to reset hearing and for time to file written opposition and granted respondent's petition for issuance of a writ of possession, and the order dated March 24, 2003 which denied the petitioners' urgent motion for reconsideration.
On May 10, 1996, the spouses Lolito de Castro and his wife herein
petitioner Zenaida de Castro, represented by attorneys-in-fact, the spouses
Zandro de Castro and Susan de Castro, obtained a loan of P490,000 from
respondent Utility Savings and Loan Association, Inc. (USLAI). As security
therefor, a real estate mortgage over a residential lot situated at Brgy.
Sambat llaya, Batangas City was executed in favor of USLAI.
The debtors defaulted on said loan. Hence, USLAI filed a petition for extrajudicial foreclosure under Act 3135, as amended. In the foreclosure sale held on November 8, 1999, USLAI emerged as the highest bidder. After the 1-year period for redemption expired without the petitioners having availed thereof, USLAI consolidated its ownership over the foreclosed asset. Hence, Tax Declaration No. 054-0377 was issued in its name.�� On June 24, 2000, USLAI filed a petition for issuance of a writ of possession.
Petitioners opposed USLAI's petition on the following grounds: (a) the real estate mortgage contract dated April 30, 1996 is null and void because the special power of attorney executed by Lolito Castro is null and void as he was already dead at that time; (b) petitioners Ramir de Castro and Alona de Castro, who allegedly own the house located on the property, are third parties claiming right adverse to the mortgagors, the spouses Zandro de Castro and Susan de Castro; and (c) writ of possession may not be legally issued if the mortgaged property is in the possession of a third party.
On November 21, 2002, the trial court issued an order, the decretal portion of which reads:
"WHEREFORE, considering the foregoing, the petition for the issuance of a writ of possession filed a petitioner Utility Savings and Loan Association is hereby GRANTED. Let a writ of possession be issued in favor of the petitioner over the parcel of land covered by Tax Declaration No. 054-03477 together with all the buildings and improvements thereon, situated in Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City; and Ramir de Castro and any person claming the same rights as spouses Susan de Castro and Zandro de Castro are hereby ordered to vacate the said property and surrender its possession in favor of the petitioner.
SO ORDERED." [2] cralaw
Petitioners moved for the reconsideration, but their motion was denied by the same court in its subsequent order of March 24, 2003.
In their appeal to the Court of Appeals, petitioners argued that the trial court erred in ignoring the opposition and intervention interposed by petitioner-spouses Zandro de Castro and Susan de Castro who alleged to be third parties and in disregarding the alleged spurious and falsified nature of the real estate mortgage executed on behalf of a dead mortgagor.
In the herein assailed decision dated May 21, 2004, [3] the Court of Appeals dismissed petitioners' appeal, thus:
WHEREFORE, all premises considered, the present appeal is hereby DISMISSED.
SO ORDERED.
Undaunted, petitioners are now before us seeking the reversal of the decision of the appellate court.
The petition is unavailing.
At the outset, this Court has repeatedly declared that, as a rule, any question regarding the validity of the mortgage on its foreclosure cannot be a legal ground for refusing the issuance of a writ of possession. The purchaser at an extra-judicial foreclosure has a right to the possession of the property even during the one-year redemption period provided he files an indemnity bond. After the lapse of the said period with no redemption having been made, that right becomes absolute and is demandable by the buyer even without posting of a bond. There being no dispute that the foreclosed property was not redeemed within one year from the registration of the extra judicial foreclosure sale, it follows that the purchaser has acquired an absolute right to the writ of possession. [4] cralaw
In deciding the appeal in favor of USLAI, the appellate court also applied the cardinal rule in equity which dictates that a person should not be made to capitalize on his own faults or misrepresentations, the essence of the oft-invoked rule on estoppel.
Estoppel arises when one, by his acts or admissions, or by his own silence when he ought to speak out, intentionally or through culpable negligence, induces another to believe certain facts to exist and the latter rightfully relies and the acts on such belief, so that he will be prejudiced if the former is permitted to deny the existence of such facts. [5] cralaw In such a case, the admission or misrepresentation is rendered conclusive upon the person making it, and cannot be denied nor disproved as against the person relying thereon. [6] cralaw
Indeed, he who comes to court must come with clean hands. This is a frequently stated maxim which is also expressed in the principle that he who has done inequity shall not have equity. It signifies that a litigant may be denied relief by a court on the ground that his conduct has been inequitable, unfair, dishonest, fraudulent or deceitful as to the controversy in issue. [7] cralaw
Petitioner Zenaida de Castro who seeks the declaration of nullity of the contested special power of attorney is among those who misrepresented that her husband, the late Lolito de Castro, was still alive on April 30, 1996. It ought to be stressed that the P490,000 loan applied for was approved by USLAI on the basis of said misrepresentation.
As this Court had often exhorted, a party should not, after having enjoyed the benefits of an agreement, be allowed to later disown the same. [8] cralaw
On a final note, in a petition for the issuance of a writ of possession, the jurisdiction of the court is limited. The issuance of a writ of possession is a ministerial function and the proceedings thereon summary in nature. Whatever decision rendered thereon is not a judgment on the merits but simply an incident in the transfer of title, thus the proceeding is ex-parte. Verily, Section 7 of Act 3135, as amended by Act No. 4118, provides that in case of extrajudicial foreclosure of mortgage, the court may issue as a matter of course a writ of possession in favor of the purchaser. [9] cralaw The issue as to the validity of the special power of attorney executed by the spouses Lolito de Castro and Zenaida De Castro must be threshed out in another forum.
WHEREFORE, the petition is herby DENIED DUE COURSE.
SO ORDERED.
Very truly yours,
(Sgd.) LUCITA ABJELINA-SORIANO
Assistant Division Clerk of Court
Endnotes:
[1] cralaw Penned by Associate Justice Bienvenido L. Reyes and concurred in by Associate Justices Ruben T. Reyes and Jose C. Mendoza of the Seventh Division.
[2] cralaw Rollo, p. 20.
[3] cralaw Rollo, pp. 18-24.
[4] cralaw (Navorra vs. CA, 204 SCRA 850, Voca vs. CA, 234 SCRA 146; Jacob vs. CA, 184 SCRA 294.
[5] cralaw Development Bank of the Philippines vs. Court of Appeals, 331 SCRA 267
[6] cralaw Ducat vs. Court of Appeals, 322 SCRA 695.
[7] cralaw University of the Philippines vs. Hon. Elpidio Catungal, Jr. et al, G.R. No. 121863, May 5, 1997.
[8] cralaw Philippine Aluminum Wheels, Inc. vs. FASGI Enterprises, Inc., 342 SCRA 722.
[9] cralaw G.R. No. 80739, August 2, 1992.
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