490 Phil. 210
CARPIO MORALES, J.:
1. In 1992 they acquired a parcel of land (the property) from the heirs of the late Judge Gregorio Lantin, designated as Lot 1-B-153-A with an area of approximately 27,064 square meters (sq. m.).In her Answer (With Motion to Dismiss),[4] Mrs. Victoria denied having entered Judge Lantin’s lot alleged to have been purchased by the spouses Gibe, claiming that her farmhouse was constructed on the very lot awarded to her family by the DAR. Moving thus for the dismissal of the Ejectment Case for lack of cause of action, she interposed a counterclaim praying that, as a tenant of Judge Lantin, she be maintained in the peaceful possession and cultivation of her lot or, in the alternative, awarded disturbance compensation; and, in either event, reimbursed for the expenses she incurred as a result of the Ejectment Case.
2. The property was originally part of Lot 1-B-153 with an area of approximately 34,829 sq. m., which was subdivided into seven parcels in 1989 among Judge Lantin and four of his tenants as follows:
Lot No. Tenant/Owner/Claimant Area
(in sq. m.)1-B-153-A Gregorio Lantin 27,0641-B-153-B Felix Victoria 8831-B-153-C Guillermo Becina 3,9001-B-153-D Juan Becina 2,0191-B-153-E Felix Victoria 6241-B-153-F Eusebio Arida 2241-B-153-G Gregorio Lantin 115 Total Area 34,829
Felix Victoria, now deceased, was the husband of Isidra Victoria. All the defendants in the Ejectment Case, as former tenants, were given home lots, while Lot 1-B-153-A which was allotted to Gregorio Lantin was sold to the spouses Gibe.
3. In the course of fencing Lot 1-B-153-A, it was discovered that the Victoria house was standing on the northwestern portion of the property; that Mrs. Victoria was harvesting and picking fruits from the citrus trees planted in that area without the knowledge and permission of the Gibe spouses; and that Eusebio Arida, Juan Becina and Guillermo Becina were also surreptitiously planting palay on the northwestern portion.
4. The fencing was discontinued after the children of Mrs. Victoria threatened to shoot at the workers of the Gibe spouses with an armalite rifle, leaving approximately 8,000 sq. m. of the northwestern portion of Lot 1-B-153-A open and unfenced.
WHEREFORE in the light of the foregoing, this Court on the basis of the evidences [sic], the [sic] mutually submitted before it by both the plaintiffs and the defendants, this Court has to rule as follows:On May 22, the spouses Gibe, without notice to the defendants in the Ejectment Case, filed a Motion for Immediate Execution and Demolition[7] praying that “a writ of execution be issued to enforce and satisfy the judgment, for the ejectment and demolition of the house of the Defendants.”
1. That since it clearly appeared that the plaintiffs are the real owners of the real property with an area of 27,064 square meters, including the real property with an area of 5,825 square meters which is in possession of all the defendants, they have the absolute right to obtain the proper possession thereof and to eject all of them thru legal means;
2. That in as much as all the defendants are at present and also the real owners of the real properties and also in the possession thereof as evidence[d] by their respective emancipation patents, each of them is hereby ordered by this Court to properly and absolutely abandoned [sic] the portions of the real property covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-140417 and immediately delivered its possession to the plaintiffs;
3. That considering the possession of the defendant Isidra Vda. de Victoria of the real properties with a total area of 1,508 square meters which she did not own, [she] is ordered by this Court to pay and remit to the above plaintiffs the sum of P45,000.00 as reasonable compensation for the use and occupation of the portion above mentioned as it belong[s] to the plaintiffs and the defendant Becina together with two other defendants Juan and Arida are in possession of the real property owned by the plaintiffs with an area of 4,327 square meters, they are hereby ordered [to] jointly pay the plaintiffs the sum of P50,000.00 jointly as reasonable compensation.
4. That all the defendants are hereby ordered to pay the counsel for the plaintiffs the sum of P20,000.00 jointly as attorney’s fees;
5. That in view of failure of the plaintiffs to prove their entitlement to preliminary mandatory injunction and to the set the same for hearing as required by law, the same is hereby denied.
6. The defendants are hereby ordered to pay the costs of suit.
SO ORDERED.[6] (Underscoring supplied)
The petitioner contends that the lower court has no jurisdiction to try the case and to issue the questioned decision because the subject parcels of land have been subjected and covered by P.D. 27 known as Operation Land Transfer and any dispute involving said lands must be referred to the Honorable Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB) for proper disposition.Herein petitioner, Mario Victoria, received a copy of the foregoing Decision of the RTC on September 18, 1999 and filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the same on September 28, 1999.[19] In due course, the RTC denied petitioner’s Motion for Reconsideration by Order dated December 7, 1999.[20]
Jurisdiction of a court is determined by the allegations in the complaint. The complaint filed by the private respondents was for Ejectment and Damages With a Writ of Preliminary Mandatory Injunction. Ejectment proceedings are within the exclusive original jurisdiction of the Municipal Trial Court.x x x
The Answer and the Position Paper of the petitioner Victoria in the case below show that she claimed ownership over the portion of the lot, by virtue of the Operation Land Transfer, which the private respondents Gibe alleged to have been occupied by the farm house of the petitioner. Petitioner Victoria did not question the jurisdiction of the Court but prayed for the dismissal of the case below for lack of cause of action. So much so, that when the respondent Court took into consideration the issue of ownership over the portion of the property allegedly transgressed, it did so only to determine who is better entitled to possession over said portion. And when it ordered the resurvey of the property to determine its actual boundaries and the admission of the Engineer’s report to aid it in the issuance of the questioned decision. It did not determine the question of ownership, i.e. as to who the real owner is which the petitioner may do so in a separate complaint before the proper forum.x x x
The Decision of the Court below is therefore not an error of jurisdiction but an error of judgment which is not reviewable by certiorari proceedings. In other words, certiorari is a remedy designed for the correction of errors of jurisdiction and not errors of judgment as its function is to keep and inferior court within its jurisdiction.
Having found [the MTC] to have jurisdiction to issue the decision dated May 28, 1998, the respondent judge likewise has jurisdiction to direct the execution of the same pending appeal pursuant to Section 19, Rule 70 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure.[18] (Underscoring supplied)
The petition is flawed for the following reasons viz:Petitioner’s Motion for Reconsideration[25] having been denied by the CA by Resolution of July 12, 2000[26] for being filed 2 days beyond the reglementary period, he filed the petition at bar after he was granted, on his motion, an extension of thirty days to file the petition, conditioned upon the timeliness of the motion for extension.[27]
1. The correct remedy from a decision of a Regional Trial Court in a petition for certiorari is an ordinary appeal pursuant to Section 1, Rule 41 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure and section 5, Rule 6 of the Revised Internal Rules of the Court of Appeals;
2. The instant petition is filed out of time. The assailed RTC decision was received on September 18, 1999 while the Motion for Reconsideration was filed on September 28, 1999. (Rollo P. 152). Thus a period of nine (9) days had elapsed. The Order dated December 7, 1999 was received by petitioner on January 29, 2000 while the instant petition was filed only on March 28, 2000. Thus a period of fifty eight (58) days had passed. Hence, petitioner had consumed a period of 67 days, well beyond the 60-day period allowed by the rules as amended by Supreme Court En Banc resolution dated July 21, 1998.[23] Plainly, the petition was filed out of time.
3. The statement of material dates as to timeliness of the filing of the petition is incomplete as it failed to state when the motion for reconsideration was filed in violation of Section 3, Rule 46.
WHEREFORE, the petition is DISMISSED.
SO ORDERED.[24]
The appeal must be denied.
- PUBLIC RESPONDENT COURT OF APPEALS COMMITTED GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION AMOUNTING TO LACK OF OR IN [sic] EXCESS OF JURISDICTION BY NOT GIVING DUE COURSE TO THE PETITIONER’S PETITION FOR CERTIORARI ON GROUND OF TECHNICALITY INSTEAD OF RESOLVING THE CASE ON THE MERITS.
- PUBLIC RESPONDENT REGIONAL TRIAL COURT OF CALAMBA, LAGUNA, COMMITTED GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION AMOUNTING TO LACK OF OR IN [sic] EXCESS OF JURISDICTION BY RULING THAT THIS CASE FALLS WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE MUNICIPAL TRIAL COURT, AND THAT THE DECISION OF THE COURT A QUO WAS NOT AN ERROR [OF] JURISDICTION BUT AN ERROR OF JUDGMENT WHICH IS NOT REVIEWABLE IN CERTIORARI [P]ROCEEDINGS.[28]
Although it has been said time and again that litigation is not a game of technicalities, that every case must be prosecuted in accordance with the prescribed procedure so that issues may be properly presented and justly resolved, this does not mean that procedural rules may altogether be disregarded. Rules of procedure must be faithfully followed except only when, for persuasive reasons, they may be relaxed to relieve a litigant of an injustice commensurate with his failure to comply with the prescribed procedure. Concomitant to a liberal application of the rules of procedure should be an effort on the part of the party invoking liberality to adequately explain his failure to abide by the rules.[40] (Emphasis supplied; italics in the original; citations omitted)In the case at bar, petitioner has not provided any cogent explanation that would absolve him of the consequences of his repeated failure to abide by the rules.
Jurisdiction is determined by the allegations in the complaint. That is basic. Unquestionably, petitioner lodged an action for ejectment before the MTC. Under BP 129, the allegations in the complaint conferred initiatory jurisdiction on that first level court.In Duremdes v. Duremdes,[43] where a similar argument was raised under factual circumstances analogous to the case at bar, this Court held:x x x
However, when tenancy is averred as a defense and is shown prima facie to be the real issue, the MTC must dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction. Under RA 6657, it is the DAR that has authority to hear and decide when tenancy is legitimately involved.
In the instant case, respondents averred tenancy as an affirmative and/or special defense in their Answer with Counterclaim. Under the RSP [Revised Rule on Summary Procedure], the MTC was supposed to conduct a preliminary conference to determine if such relationship was indeed the real issue. We emphasize that the MTC did not automatically lose its jurisdiction simply because respondents raised tenancy as a defense. It continued to have the authority to hear the case precisely to determine whether it had jurisdiction to dispose of the ejectment suit on its merits.x x x
An agrarian dispute refers to any controversy relating to, inter alia, tenancy over lands devoted to agriculture. To determine whether the CA was correct in its reversal of the trial court, it is necessary to keep in mind the essential requisites of tenancy which are as follows:1) The parties are the landowner and the tenant or agricultural lessee;All these elements must concur. It is not enough that they are alleged; to divest the MTC of jurisdiction, they must all be shown to be present. x x x[42] (Emphasis and underscoring supplied; italics in the original; citations omitted)
(2) The subject of the relationship is agricultural land;
(3) There is mutual consent to the tenancy between the parties;
(4) The purpose of the relationship is agricultural production;
(5) There is personal cultivation by the tenant or agricultural lessee; and
(6) There is a sharing of harvests between the parties.
First. For the DARAB to have jurisdiction over the case, there must be a tenancy relationship between the parties. In order for a tenancy agreement to take hold over a dispute it is essential to establish all its indispensable elements, to wit:In the present case, neither petitioner nor his predecessor-in-interest submitted evidence to substantiate the existence of the essential requisites of tenancy. Thus, there is no basis at all to support petitioner’s claim that the MTC was without jurisdiction to render the questioned Decision.1) [T]hat the parties are the landowner and the tenant or agricultural lessee; 2) that the subject matter of the relationship is an agricultural land; 3) that there is consent between the parties to the relationship; 4) that the purpose of the relationship is to bring about agricultural production; 5) that there is personal cultivation on the part of the tenant or agricultural lessee; and 6) that the harvest is shared between the landowner and the tenant or agricultural lessee.Second. The trial court found that no such tenancy agreement existed between the respondent and Herminio Tara, and that such allegation was a mere ploy to prevent the respondent from exercising dominion and ownership over the subject property. This was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. We find no cogent reason to reverse such finding.
Third. The petitioner is barred from raising the issue of jurisdiction. The petitioner actively participated in all stages of the instant case, setting up a counterclaim and asking for affirmative relief in his answer. He failed, however, to question the court’s jurisdiction over the suit. After relying on the jurisdiction of the regular courts, he cannot be permitted to turn around and question it. It is not right for a party who has affirmed and invoked the jurisdiction of a court in a particular matter to secure an affirmative relief, to afterwards deny that same jurisdiction.[44] (Emphasis supplied; italics in the original; citations omitted)
It cannot be overemphasized that parties and their counsel are duty-bound to observe honesty and truthfulness in all their pleadings, motions and statements before the courts. Canon 10 of the Code of Professional Responsibility states, “A lawyer owes candor, fairness and good faith to the court;” while Rules 10.01 and 10.03 of the same provide:
Rule 10.01 – A lawyer shall not do any falsehood, nor consent to the doing of any in Court; nor shall he mislead, or allow the Court to be mislead by any artifice.x x x
Rule 10.03 – A lawyer shall observe the rules of procedure and shall not misuse them to defeat the ends of justice.
Petitioner and his counsel, Atty. Abdul A. Basar, are thus hereby directed TO SHOW CAUSE, within 10 days from receipt of a copy of this Decision, why they should not be held in contempt of court and disciplinarily dealt with for violation of Canon 10 of the Code of Professional Responsibility, respectively.
WHEREFORE, the petition is hereby DENIED.
Sec. 4. Where petition filed. - The petition may be filed not later than sixty (60) days from notice of the judgment, order or resolution sought to be assailed in the Supreme Court or, if it relates to the acts or omissions of a lower court or of a corporation, board, officer or person, in the Regional Trial Court exercising jurisdiction over the territorial area as defined by the Supreme Court. It may also be filed in the Court of Appeals whether or not the same is in aid of its appellate jurisdiction, or in the Sandiganbayan if it is in aid of its jurisdiction. If it involves the acts or omissions of a quasi-judicial agency, and unless otherwise provided by law or these Rules, the petition shall be filed in and cognizable only by the Court of Appeals.The foregoing was again amended by SC Admin. Memo. No. 00-2-3 dated Sept 1, 2000, which prescribes that the 60-day period shall be counted from the notice of the denial of a motion for reconsideration, should one have been filed. Thus, Section 4 of Rule 65 now reads:
If the petitioner had filed a motion for new trial or reconsideration in due time after notice of said judgment, order or resolution, the period herein fixed shall be interrupted. If the motion is denied, the aggrieved party may file the petition within the remaining period, but which shall be not less than five (5) days in any event, reckoned from notice of such denial. No extension of time to file the petition shall be granted except for the most compelling reason and in no case to exceed fifteen (15) days. (Underscoring supplied)
Sec. 4. Where petition filed. - The petition shall be filed not later than sixty (60) days from notice of the judgment, order or resolution. In case a motion for reconsideration or new trial is timely filed, whether such motion is required or not, the sixty (60) day period shall be counted from notice of the denial of said motion.[24] Rollo at 97-98; CA Rollo at 165-166.
The petition shall be filed in the Supreme Court or, if it relates to the acts or omissions of a lower court or of a corporation, board, officer or person, in the Regional Trial Court exercising jurisdiction over the territorial area as defined by the Supreme Court. It may also be filed in the Court of Appeals whether or not the same is in aid of its appellate jurisdiction, or in the Sandiganbayan if it is in aid of its appellate jurisdiction. If it involves the acts or omissions of a quasi-judicial agency, unless otherwise provided by the law or these Rules, the petition shall be filed in and cognizable only by the Court of Appeals.
No extension of time to file the petition shall be granted except for compelling reason and in no case exceeding fifteen (15) days. (Underscoring supplied)