REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

THIRD JUDICIAL REGION
BRANCH ___
GAPAN CITY

IN RE: ISSUANCE OF NEW OR

SECOND OWNER’S
DUPLICATE COPY OF TCT NO.
NT—284652 OF THE
REGISTRY OF DEEDS OF
NUEVA ECIJA,

BIENVENIDO A. ESTEBAN,
represented by his attorney-
in-fact EDGAR L. ESTEBAN,
Petitioner,

- versus - LRC CASE NO. ____________

THE REGISTER OF DEEDS FOR
THE PROVINCE OF NUEVA
ECIJA
Respondent.
X-------------------------------X

PETITION

COMES NOW, petitioner, through the undersigned counsel, unto this

Honorable Court, most respectfully alleges THAT:

1. Petitioner BIENVENIDO A. ESTEBAN is of legal age, married, Filipino, and

a resident of Barangay San Josef, Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija. For purposes
of this suit, petitioner is represented by his attorney-in-fact and half-
brother, EDGAR L. ESTEBAN, of legal age, married, Filipino, with
residence and postal address at Barangay San Josef, Peñaranda, Nueva
Ecija where he may be served with the judicial processes of this
Honorable Court. Copy of the Special Power of Attorney dated _____
executed by the petitioner in favor of Edgar Esteban is hereto attached
and marked as Annex “A”;

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 2. Respondent is a public officer in charge of the registration of documents
involving conveyances of registered real estates and is the official
custodian of land titles for the Province of Nueva Ecija, with office
address at the City Hall of Cabanatuan City where he may be served with
summons and all other judicial processes;

3. The subject of this petition is a parcel of land covered by and embraced

in Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) No. NT-284652 of the Register of
Deeds of Nueva Ecija. It contains an area of 389 square meters, more or
less, and is situated at Barangay San Josef, Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija. The
land is registered under the name of the petitioner. Copy of TCT No. NT-
284652 is hereto attached and marked as Annex “B” to prove the
existence of the title in the office of the public respondent and the
identity of the land covered by it;

4. Petitioner has several houses in the country, and when the subject title
of this petition was dropped from its mother title (TCT NT-211812) on 13
May 2002, he kept the said TCT together with Edgar Esteban’s (his half-
brother and the attorney-in-fact in this petition) title in his house in
Bicutan, Parañaque. He placed them inside his attaché case—the same
case was kept in his room. The rest of the rooms were occupied by the
petitioner’s colleagues.

5. Sometime in September 2016, the petitioner’s wife visited their house in

Bicutan. When she unlocked the petitioner’s room, she was surprised to
find out that Bien’s attaché case was emptied out, and all important
documents contained by it were already missing including TCT NT-
284652 and TCT NT-284653. She called the petitioner and Edgar to come
over and they inquired about the missing documents from Bien’s
colleagues, but all of them denied knowledge about such loss. They also
inquired from their relatives who were living next door, but they told
them that nothing unusual transpired for the past few months;

6. Consequently, the petitioner and his brother inquired from a lawyer

about the procedure and expense of reconstituting their lost title. they
did not have enough budget at that time, so they decided to forego it a
bit until they have saved enough;

7. On 29 November 2021, under the direction of the petitioner, Edgar

executed an affidavit of loss concerning the said certificate of title.
Thereafter, petitioner caused the affidavit to be annotated on the
Memorandum of Encumbrance of TCT No. NT-284652. Said annotation
as Entry No. 2021008139 can be found on page 5 of TCT No. 284652

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 will be marked at the trial as Exhibit “B-1” while the affidavit of loss will
be marked as Exhibit “C”.

8. The subject parcel of land which has an assessed value of P 38,900.00 is

currently in actual physical possession of the petitioner herein where his
house is erected and has also been declared for taxation purposes under
his name. Real property tax therefor up until the fourth quarter of 2022
has been fully paid as evidenced by the hereto attached copy of the Tax
Clearance dated November 21, 2021 issued by the Office of the
Treasurer of Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija which will be marked as Exhibit
“D”;

9. The owner’s duplicate copy of TCT No. NT—284652, or the land covered
by it, has never been sold, conveyed, pledged, mortgaged or
encumbered by the petitioner to any person or entity to satisfy any
obligation but has in fact been missing;

10. The subject property is free from all liens and encumbrances of any kind
whatsoever and there are no deeds or instruments affecting the
property have been presented and pending registration as of this date
before the office of the public respondent Registry of Deeds of Nueva
Ecija;

11.This petition is filed pursuant to Section 109 of Presidential Decree (PD)

No. 1529 (Property Registration Act), which states:

SEC 109. Notice and replacement of lost duplicate certificate. –In

case of loss of theft of an owner’s duplicate certificate of title due notice
under oath shall be sent by the owner of by someone in his behalf to the
Register of Deeds of the province or city where the land lies as soon as
the loss or theft is discovered. If a duplicate certificate is lost or
destroyed, or cannot be produced by a person applying for the entry of
a new certificate to him or for the registration of any instrument, a
sworn statement of the fact of such loss or destruction may be filed by
the registered owner or other person in interest and registered.

Upon the petition of the registered owner or other person in

interest, the court may, after notice and due hearing, direct the issuance
of a new duplicate certificate, which shall contain a memorandum of the
fact that it is issued in place of the lost duplicate certificate, but shall in
all respect be entitled to like faith and credits as the original duplicate as
the original duplicate, and shall thereafter be regarded as such for all
purposes of this decree.

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 12. At the trial of this case, petitioner’s attorney-in-fact, Edgar L. Esteban,
will be presented as witness to prove the truth of the material facts
narrated in this petition and to identify and authenticate the above-
stated documentary exhibits. Copy of Edgar’s Judicial Affidavit is hereto
attached and will be marked as Exhibit “E”;

13.After the testimony of Edgar Esteban, the above-stated exhibits will be

marked as Exhibits “A” to “E” and shall be formally offered in support of
this petition and for the purposes above-stated.

WHEREFORE, all the foregoing premises considered, petitioner most

respectfully prays for this Honorable Court that after due notice, posting and
hearing, judgment be rendered:

1. DECLARING the second owner’s duplicate copy of TCT No. NT—284652

registered in the name of the petitioner as lost, missing and beyond
recovery; and

2. ORDERING the respondent Register of Deeds of Nueva Ecija to issue a

Second Owner’s Duplicate of TCT No. NT—284652 in accordance with
the above stated provision of PD 1529;

Petitioner further prays for other reliefs consistent with justice and equity.

10 January 2022; General Tinio, Nueva Ecija.

_____________________
ELIJAH B. BACTOL
Counsel for the Petitioner
#23 Bonifacio Street, Poblacion Central,
General Tinio, Nueva Ecija
Roll of Attorneys No. 74375
MCLE Compliance: Passed the Bar Exams on April 2020
IBP Membership No. 157636 2/16/2021
PTR No. 6855529 29 January2021
Issued at General Tinio, Nueva Ecija
Email Address for videoconference and notices: elijah77.law@gmail.com
Mobile Phone Number 09178005494

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 VERIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION
AGAINST FORUM-SHOPPING

I, EDGAR L. ESTEBAN, Filipino, of legal age, resident of San Josef,

Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija, after being sworn to in accordance with law, hereby
depose and state:

1. That I am the attorney-in-fact of the petitioner in the above-entitled

petition;

2. That we caused the preparation and filing of the petition and we have
read and understood the allegations therein;

3. That I attest that all the allegations are true and correct of my own
personal knowledge and based on authentic documents;

4. The petition is not filed to harass, cause unnecessary delay or needlessly

increase the cost of litigation; and

5. The factual allegations therein have evidentiary support or, if specifically

identified, will likewise have evidentiary support after a reasonable
opportunity for discovery;

6. I certify that (a) I have not commenced any action or filed any claim
involving the same issues in any court, tribunal or quasi-judicial agency
and to the best of my knowledge, no such other action or claim is
pending therein; (b) if I should thereafter learn that the same or similar
action or claim has been filed or is pending, I shall report that fact within
five (5) calendar days therefrom to this Honorable Court.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 10th day of January
2022 at General Tinio, Nueva Ecija.

EDGAR L. ESTEBAN
Affiant

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me this 10th day of January 2022 at

General Tinio, Nueva Ecija after the above-named affiant exhibited to me his
personal identification card.

Doc. No. _____

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Page No. _____
Book No. III
Series of 2022

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