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Acap V CA Case Digest
Acap V CA Case Digest
FACTS:
Felixberto, an only son, inherited from his parents a lot. He executed a duly
notarized document entitled "Declaration of Heirship and Deed of Absolute
Sale" in favor of Pido.
When ownership was transferred, Acap continued to be the tenant of a
portion of the said land and religiously paid his leasehold rentals to Pido.
De los Reyes informed Acap that, as the new owner, the lease rentals should
be paid to him. When petitioner refused and failed to pay any further lease
rentals after repeated demands, he filed a complaint for recovery of
possession and damages.
The lower court rendered a decision in favor of private respondent which was
eventually affirmed by the Court of Appeals (CA).
ISSUES:
HELD:
The Court GRANTS the petition and SET ASIDE the decision of the CA.
On Issue No. 1
No.
Private respondent cannot conclusively claim ownership over the subject lot
on the sole basis of the waiver document.
Under Article 712 of the Civil Code, the modes of acquiring ownership are
generally classified into 2 classes: (1) original mode (i.e., through
occupation, acquisitive prescription, law or intellectual creation) and (2) the
derivative mode (i.e., through succession mortis causa or tradition as a result
of certain contracts, such as sale, barter, donation, assignment or mutuum).
On Issue No. 2
No.
A notice of adverse claim was filed with the Registry of Deeds which
contained the Declaration of Heirship with Waiver of rights and was
annotated at the back of the Original Certificate of Title (OCT) to the land in
question.
This said notice, by its nature, does not however prove private respondent's
ownership over the tenanted lot. The Court emphasized that while the
existence of said adverse claim was duly proven, there was no evidence
whatsoever that a deed of sale was executed between the parties
transferring the rights in favor of private respondent. An adverse claim
cannot by itself be sufficient to cancel the OCT to the land and title the same
in private respondent's name.