498 Phil. 515
AUSTRIA-MARTINEZ, J.:
David Pelayo (Pelayo), by a Deed of Absolute Sale executed on January 11, 1988, conveyed to Melki Perez (Perez) two parcels of agricultural land (the lots) situated in Panabo, Davao which are portions of Lot 4192, Cad. 276 covered by OCT P-16873.The RTC Decision was appealed by herein respondent Perez to the CA. Petitioners failed to file their appellees' brief. The CA then promulgated its Decision on April 20, 1999 whereby it ruled that by Lorenza's signing as witness to the execution of the deed, she had knowledge of the transaction and is deemed to have given her consent to the same; that herein petitioners failed to adduce sufficient proof to overthrow the presumption that there was consideration for the deed, and that petitioner David Pelayo, being a lawyer, is presumed to have acted with due care and to have signed the deed with full knowledge of its contents and import. The CA reversed and set aside the RTC Decision, declaring as valid and enforceable the questioned deed of sale and ordering herein petitioner Lorenza Pelayo to affix her signature on all pages of said document.
Loreza Pelayo (Loreza), wife of Pelayo, and another one whose signature is illegible witnessed the execution of the deed.
Loreza, however, signed only on the third page in the space provided for witnesses on account of which Perez' application for registration of the deed with the Office of the Register of Deeds in Tagum, Davao was denied.
Perez thereupon asked Loreza to sign on the first and second pages of the deed but she refused, hence, he instituted on August 8, 1991 the instant complaint for specific performance against her and her husband Pelayo (defendants).
The defendants moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that it stated no cause of action, citing Section 6 of RA 6656 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law which took effect on June 10, 1988 and which provides that contracts executed prior thereto shall "be valid only when registered with the Register of Deeds within a period of three (3) months after the effectivity of this Act."
The questioned deed having been executed on January 10, 1988, the defendants claimed that Perez had at least up to September 10, 1988 within which to register the same, but as they failed to, it is not valid and, therefore, unenforceable.
The trial court thus dismissed the complaint. On appeal to this Court, the dismissal was set aside and the case was remanded to the lower court for further proceedings.
In their Answer, the defendants claimed that as the lots were occupied illegally by some persons against whom they filed an ejectment case, they and Perez who is their friend and known at the time as an activist/leftist, hence feared by many, just made it appear in the deed that the lots were sold to him in order to frighten said illegal occupants, with the intentional omission of Loreza's signature so that the deed could not be registered; and that the deed being simulated and bereft of consideration is void/inexistent.
Perez countered that the lots were given to him by defendant Pelayo in consideration of his services as his attorney-in-fact to make the necessary representation and negotiation with the illegal occupants-defendants in the ejectment suit; and that after his relationship with defendant Pelayo became sour, the latter sent a letter to the Register of Deeds of Tagum requesting him not to entertain any transaction concerning the lots title to which was entrusted to Perez who misplaced and could [not] locate it.
Defendant Pelayo claimed in any event, in his Pre-trial brief filed on March 19, 1996, that the deed was without his wife Loreza's consent, hence, in light of Art. 166 of the Civil Code which provides:Article 166. Unless the wife has been declared a non compos mentis or a spendthrift, or is under civil interdiction or is confined in a leprosarium, the husband cannot alienate or encumber any real property of the conjugal partnership without the wife's consent . . .it is null and void.
The trial court, finding, among others, that Perez did not possess, nor pay the taxes on the lots, that defendant Pelayo was indebted to Perez for services rendered and, therefore, the deed could only be considered as evidence of debt, and that in any event, there was no marital consent to nor actual consideration for the deed, held that the deed was null and void and accordingly rendered judgment the dispositive portion of which reads:WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered ordering and directing the defendants to pay plaintiff Melki Perez the sum of TEN THOUSAND (P10,000.00) Pesos as principal with 12% interest per annum starting from the date of filing of the complaint on August 1, 1991 until plaintiff is fully paid.
The defendants shall likewise pay to plaintiff the sum of THREE THOUSAND (P3,000.00) as attorney's fees.
The court further orders that the Deed of Absolute Sale, (Annex 'A') of the complaint and (Annex 'C') of the plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment is declared null and void and without force and it is likewise removed as a cloud over defendants' title and property in suit. . . ."[2]
. . . the proper interpretation of both sections is that under R.A. No. 6657, the sale or transfer of a private agricultural land is allowed only when said land area constitutes or is a part of the landowner-seller retained area and only when the total landholdings of the purchaser-transferee, including the property sold does not exceed five (5) hectares.Aside from declaring that the failure of respondent to register the deed was not of his own fault or negligence, the CA ruled that respondent's failure to register the deed of sale within three months after effectivity of The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law did not invalidate the deed of sale as "the transaction over said property is not proscribed by R.A. No. 6657."
Law of the case has been defined as the opinion delivered on a former appeal. It is a term applied to an established rule that when an appellate court passes on a question and remands the case to the lower court for further proceedings, the question there settled becomes the law of the case upon subsequent appeal. It means that whatever is once irrevocably established as the controlling legal rule or decision between the same parties in the same case continues to be the law of the case, whether correct on general principles or not, so long as the facts on which such decision was predicated continue to be the facts of the case before the court.Petitioners not having questioned the Decision of the CA dated November 24, 1994 which then attained finality, the ruling that the deed of sale subject of this case is not among the transactions deemed as invalid under R.A. No. 6657, is now immutable.
Art. 166. Unless the wife has been declared a non compos mentis or a spendthrift, or is under civil interdiction or is confined in a leprosarium, the husband cannot alienate or encumber any real property of the conjugal property without the wife's consent. If she refuses unreasonably to give her consent, the court may compel her to grant the same.Hence, it has been held that the contract is valid until the court annuls the same and only upon an action brought by the wife whose consent was not obtained.[11] In the present case, despite respondent's repeated demands for Lorenza to affix her signature on all the pages of the deed of sale, showing respondent's insistence on enforcing said contract, Lorenza still did not file a case for annulment of the deed of sale. It was only when respondent filed a complaint for specific performance on August 8, 1991 when petitioners brought up Lorenza's alleged lack of consent as an affirmative defense. Thus, if the transaction was indeed entered into without Lorenza's consent, we find it quite puzzling why for more than three and a half years, Lorenza did absolutely nothing to seek the nullification of the assailed contract.
. . .
Art. 173. The wife may, during the marriage, and within ten years from the transaction questioned, ask the courts for the annulment of any contract of the husband entered into without her consent, when such consent is required, or any act or contract of the husband which tends to defraud her or impair her interest in the conjugal partnership property. Should the wife fail to exercise this right, she or her heirs, after the dissolution of the marriage, may demand the value of property fraudulently alienated by the husband.
Art. 1491. The following persons cannot acquire by purchase, even at a public or judicial auction, either in person or through the mediation of another:In Distajo vs. Court of Appeals,[12] a landowner, Iluminada Abiertas, designated one of her sons as the administrator of several parcels of her land. The landowner subsequently executed a Deed of Certification of Sale of Unregistered Land, conveying some of said land to her son/administrator. Therein, we held that:
. . .
(2) Agents, the property whose administration or sale may have been entrusted to them, unless the consent of the principal has been given;
. . .
Under paragraph (2) of the above article, the prohibition against agents purchasing property in their hands for sale or management is not absolute. It does not apply if the principal consents to the sale of the property in the hands of the agent or administrator. In this case, the deeds of sale signed by Iluminada Abiertas shows that she gave consent to the sale of the properties in favor of her son, Rufo, who was the administrator of the properties. Thus, the consent of the principal Iluminada Abiertas removes the transaction out of the prohibition contained in Article 1491(2).[13]The above-quoted ruling is exactly in point with this case before us. Petitioners, by signing the Deed of Sale in favor of respondent, are also deemed to have given their consent to the sale of the subject property in favor of respondent, thereby making the transaction an exception to the general rule that agents are prohibited from purchasing the property of their principals.
. . . Indeed, there is no requirement that the price be equal to the exact value of the subject matter of sale. . . . As we stated in Vales vs. Villa:Verily, in the present case, petitioners have not presented proof that there has been fraud, mistake or undue influence exercised upon them by respondent. It is highly unlikely and contrary to human experience that a layman like respondent would be able to defraud, exert undue influence, or in any way vitiate the consent of a lawyer like petitioner David Pelayo who is expected to be more knowledgeable in the ways of drafting contracts and other legal transactions.Courts cannot follow one every step of his life and extricate him from bad bargains, protect him from unwise investments, relieve him from one-sided contracts, or annul the effects of foolish acts. Courts cannot constitute themselves guardians of persons who are not legally incompetent. Courts operate not because one person has been defeated or overcome by another, but because he has been defeated or overcome illegally. Men may do foolish things, make ridiculous contracts, use miserable judgment, and lose money by them – indeed, all they have in the world; but not for that alone can the law intervene and restore. There must be, in addition, a violation of the law, the commission of what the law knows as an actionable wrong, before the courts are authorized to lay hold of the situation and remedy it.[16]
By movant-defendant-appellee's own information, his counsel received a copy of the decision on May 5, 1999. He, therefore, had fifteen (15) days from said date or up to May 20, 1999 to file the motion. The motion, however, was sent through a private courier and, therefore, considered to have been filed on the date of actual receipt on June 17, 1999 by the addressee – Court of Appeals, was filed beyond the reglementary period.Petitioners never denied the CA finding that their motion for reconsideration was filed beyond the fifteen-day reglementary period. On that point alone, the CA is correct in denying due course to said motion. The motion having been belatedly filed, the CA Decision had then attained finality. Thus, in Abalos vs. Philex Mining Corporation,[18] we held that:
Technicality aside, movant has not proffered any ground bearing on the merits of the case why the decision should be set aside.
. . . Nothing is more settled in law than that once a judgment attains finality it thereby becomes immutable and unalterable. It may no longer be modified in any respect, even if the modification is meant to correct what is perceived to be an erroneous conclusion of fact or law, and regardless of whether the modification is attempted to be made by the court rendering it or by the highest court of the land.Moreover, it is pointed out by the CA that said motion did not present any defense or argument on the merits of the case that could have convinced the CA to reverse or modify its Decision.