Republic of the Philippines

MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURT IN CITIES

First Judicial Region
BRANCH 1
Baguio City

LUISA K. PAN-AG,
Plaintiff,
CIVIL CASE No. 14212

- versus - For:

EJECTMENT with
ESTHER FOTYONG, DAMAGES
Defendant.
x---------------------------------------
-x

ANSWER with AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES and

COUNTERCLAIM

COMES NOW, the Defendant, through the undersigned counsel,

and unto this Honorable Court, and in answer to the plaintiff’s complaint,
respectfully alleges that:

1) She denies the allegations in paragraph 1 insofar as the

personal circumstances of the plaintiff is concerned for lack of
personal knowledge or information to form a belief as to the truth
of the averments in the said paragraph;

2) She admits the contentions in paragraph 2 regarding her own

personal circumstances. In addition, with the entry of appearance
of the undersigned counsel, notices and court processes addressed
to herein defendant corporation may be served upon the office
address of the undersigned counsel, located at Suite 305, Laperal
Building, Session Road, Baguio City;

3) She specifically denies the claims in paragraph 3, and alleges

that the plaintiff has never taken possession of the subject property,
and denies the remaining allegations in the said paragraph for lack
of sufficient knowledge to form a belief as to the truth of the
statements therein;

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4) She admits the contents of paragraph 4 of the complaint
insofar as the fact that the properties in question are declared for
taxation purposes in the name of Nicolas K. Oyangwa. She,
however, denies the claim that Nicolas Oyangwa was the previous
owner of the parcel of land together with its existing improvements,
seeing that the lawful owner of the subject properties is Artemio
Anongos, the circumstances of which shall be discussed in the latter
portion of this Answer;

5) She specifically denies the allegations and claims under

paragraphs 5, 6, 7 and 8 in the plaintiff’s complaint for being false
and misleading, and alleges that as early as 1994, Artemio
Anongos (Anongos, for brevity) and his family have been staying
in the subject premises at the behest of Nicolas Oyangwa
(Oyangwa, for brevity). In 2000, since Oyangwa was in need of
financial assistance for his hospitalization, it was agreed that
Oyangwa would transfer ownership over the subject properties to
Anongos and his successors-in-interest, in exchange for Anongos’
payment of Oyangwa’s medical and hospital expenses, and other
debts. As such, Anongos and his family continued to occupy the
property in question as owner seeing that they readily paid for the
expenses of Oyangwa for his treatment and other expenses, the
aggregate amount of which is THREE HUNDRED SEVENTY-
FIVE THOUSAND, ONE HUNDRED NINETEEN PESOS in
PHILIPPINE CURRENCY and ninety-nine centavos
(Php375,119.99). Copies of the receipts of the said expenses are
hereto attached and marked as Annex “1” and series;

6) Herein defendant admits the allegations made in paragraph 9

of the complaint, with the clarification that she was asked to stay
with the wife of Mr. Anongos sometime in the year 2003;

7) Herein defendant vehemently denies the assertions made in

paragraphs 10 and 11, the truth of the matter being that Anongos
was given the subject properties by Oyangwa in exchange for
payment of the aforementioned expenses incurred by the latter.
Furthermore, Anongos also provided for grocery items and paid off
Oyangwa’s debts all in exchange for the properties in question. In
addition, the remains of the wife of Artemio Anongos were brought
to Guina-ang, Bontoc, Mountain Province;

8) She likewise denies the statements given in paragraphs 12,

13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 of the complaint and claims that Anongos
allowed her to continue to stay within the premises, as rightful
owner of the the same in view of his agreement with Oyangwa as
described above. However, she left the country in 2004 and
returned in 2010, then left again in 2011 and returned in 2012.
Nevertheless, Oyangwa was fully aware that the defendant
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 continued to stay in the subject premises after her return from
abroad. In fact, Oyangwa also asked the defendant to take care of
his wife when she got sick, while she was staying in the subject
properties. In addition, it was also Oyangwa who initially
suggested Caroline Cawed stay in the property. Thereafter,
Anongos and his family agreed. The defendant would like to make
clear that Oyangwa did not make any demands for the defendant
and Cawed to vacate the properties prior to 2017, hence they did
not make any plea as mentioned in the said paragraphs, nor were
they asked to pay rentals by Oyangwa;

9) Defendant admits the allegations in paragraph 18, insofar as

the demand made by Oyangwa for them to vacate was concerned,
with emphasis that the demand made in 2017 was the first demand
made by Oyangwa. Nevertheless, she denies the claim that the
house is Oyangwa’s own for reasons stated above;

10) She specifically denies the assertions in paragraphs 19

and 20 for lack of sufficient knowledge to form a belief as to the
truth of the same, especially considering that Anongos denies
having ever made the letter mentioned therein;

11) The defendant partially admits the statements made in

paragraph 21 of the complaint insofar as her continued stay in the
subject properties is concerned, with emphasis that her continued
stay was by the consent and authority given by Anongos as rightful
owner;

12) She denies the claims made in paragraph 22 on the

ground that the defendant has no knowledge to form a belief as to
the truthfulness of the statements therein;

13) She denies the statements made in paragraph 23 for

being false and misleading, and alleges that when Oyangwa and the
plaintiff came to the property to speak with the defendant, the
defendant was able to explain the situation to herein plaintiff, who,
in turn, asked Oyangwa to return her money considering his
previous agreement with the relatives of herein defendant, Artemio
Anongos and his family;

14) The defendant denies the declarations made in

paragraphs 24 and 26 for lack of knowledge to form a belief as to
the truthfulness of the statements made therein;

15) She vehemently denies the allegations in paragraphs

25 and 27 of the complaint for being false and misleading, the truth
of the matter being that when the plaintiff returned to the defendant,
she was asking the defendant to sign a document so that she could
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 reimburse her money from Oyangwa, wherein the defendant would
supposedly act as witness;

16) She likewise denies the claims mentioned in

paragraphs 28 for lack of sufficient knowledge to form a belief as
to the truthfulness of the statements therein;

17) Likewise, the defendant is without knowledge or

information to form a belief as to the truth of the claims made by
the plaintiff for damages and other expenses in relation to the filing
of this case;

18) As an AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE, the defendant

ESTHER FOTYONG alleges that:

(a) The defendant reproduces paragraphs 20 and 21 of the

complaint, in relation to the filing of Oyangwa, not the
plaintiff, before the Barangay of Balsigan of a complaint
against herein defendant;

(b) Under R.A. No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local

Government Code, no complaint, petition, action, or proceeding
involving any matter within the authority of the lupon shall be
filed or instituted directly in court or any other government
office for adjudication, unless there has been confrontation
between the parties before the lupon chairman or the pangkat,
and that no conciliation or settlement has been reached as
certified by the lupon secretary or pangkat secretary as attested
to by the lupon or pangkat chairman or unless the settlement has
been repudiated by the parties thereto1;

(c) Further, the Revised Rule of Summary Procedure reads,

cases requiring referral to the Lupon for conciliation under the
provisions of Presidential Decree No. 1508 where there is no
showing of compliance with such requirement, shall be
dismissed without prejudice and may be revived only after such
requirement shall have been complied with2;

(d) As held by the Supreme Court, where the fact of non-

compliance with and non-observance of such procedure has
been seasonably raised as an issue before the court first taking
cognizance of the complaint, dismissal of the action is proper.
The precise technical effect of failure to comply with the
requirement of P.D. 1508 where applicable is much the same
effect produced by non-exhaustion of administrative remedies;
the complaint becomes afflicted with the vice of pre-maturity;
1
Sec. 412, R.A. No. 7160, Local Government Code.
2
Sec. 18, 1991 Revised Rules on Summary Procedure.
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 the controversy there alleged is not ripe for judicial
determination3;

(e) There is no showing that a certificate to file action was

obtained by the plaintiff herself after the supposed demand letter
dated 14 February 2019. Conciliation and mediation
proceedings before the barangay are mandatory seeing that the
parties are residents of different barangays within the same city;

19) As COUNTERCLAIM against the plaintiff, the

defendant ESTHER FOTYONG alleges that:

(a) All the foregoing statements are herein reproduced as parts

hereof;

(b) To clarify, the defendant is occupying the subject premises

by virtue of the authority given by the legal owner, Artemio
Anongos;

(c) As previously stated, Artemio Anongos acquired the subject

properties in 2000, by virtue of his agreement with Nicolas
Oyangwa, in exchange for Anongos paying for Oyangwa’s
medical expenses and other miscellaneous expenses;

(d) Although the agreement is verbal, seeing that there has

already been payment by Anongos, performance of his
obligation takes their transaction outside the coverage of the
Statute of Frauds;

(e) In addition, Anongos has even introduced considerable

improvements, including, but not limited to, reparation of the
roof and the introduction of a concrete porch, which would show
that Anongos indeed was already the owner of the subject
premises;

(f) Considering that the properties were sold to Anongos as

early as 2000, Oyangwa was no longer capacitated to sell the
same to the plaintiff in this case, especially since the plaintiff
was fully aware of the foregoing circumstances. As such, no
title was passed to the plaintiff in this case, hence, she is not
entitled to possession of the subject premises;

(g) The act of the plaintiff in filing the instant complaint is with
malice or gross negligence. The instant case caused the
defendant, ESTHER FOTYONG, sleepless nights, mental
anguish, and social humiliation. In view thereof, the plaintiff

3
Garces vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 76836, 23 June 1988.
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 should be assessed an amount of FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS
(PhP50,000.00) as moral damages, in favor of the defendant

(h) The act of the plaintiff in filing the instant complaint is

premature for the reasons stated above. As such, the defendant
had been unnecessarily dragged into litigation and as compelled
to engage the services of the undersigned counsel for an agreed
fee of THIRTY THOUSAND PESOS (PhP30,000.00), plus
ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED PESOS (PhP1,500.00)
per appearance for court hearing;

PRAYER

WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is most respectfully

prayed of the Honorable Court, that after due notice and hearing, an order
and/or judgment be rendered as follows:

1) DISMISSING the plaintiff’s complaint on the ground that it lacks

cause of action or is premature for failing to comply with a
condition precedent to the filing of the instant case;

2) GRANTING the damages and claims alleged in the Counterclaim.

Other reliefs, just and equitable, are likewise prayed for.

This 22nd day of April 2019, in the City of Baguio, Philippines.

A B S LAW OFFICES
Suite 305, Laperal Building
Session Road, Baguio City
(Tel. No. (074) 442-8243)

By:

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 PATRICIA MARIE FRANCES D. CASTRO
PTR No. 3967921/01.09.2019/Baguio City
IBP Life No. 012653/04.04.2014/Baguio City
MCLE Compliance No. V – 0002740/06.14.2013
Roll No. 63622

Copy furnished:

Atty. DENNIS CODANGOS

Counsel for the Plaintiff
Rm. 4 2/F Baguio Masonic Center
180 Yandoc Street, Baguio City
2600 Philippines

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