INTING, J.:
FOR THE FOREGOING CONSIDERATIONS the complaint of plaintiff Republic of the Philippines for the cancellation of the separate titles of the Spouses Leonora and Florencio Gaspar is hereby GRANTED.Spouses Gaspar filed their appeal with the CA docketed as CA-G.R. CV No. 64921.[9]
Accordingly, judgment is hereby rendered ordering the:1. Cancellation of the Free Patents Nos. (X1-1) 4093 and (X1-1) 4362 as well as the Original Certificate of Title Nos. P-9923 and P-10220 issued in the name of Leonora Gaspar;
2. Cancellation of the Free Patents Nos. (XI-1) 4094 and (XI-1) 4361 as well as the and [sic] Original Certificate of Title Nos. P-9924 and P-10221 issued in the name of Florencio Gaspar;
3. Reversion of Lot No. 7793-A, Csd-11-006493, Lot No. 7792-A, Csd-11-006606, Lot No. 7793-C, Csd-11-006493 and Lot No. 7792-C, Csd-11-006606 covered by the aforesaid Patents and Certificates of Title to the government;
4. Defendants Leonora Gaspar and Florencio Gaspar to surrender the owner's duplicate copies of Original Certificates of Titles Nos. P-10220, P-10221, P-9923 and P-9924 to the Register of Deeds of Davao City and directing the latter to cancel said Original Certificates of Title in its books and records; and,
5. Defendants Leonora Gaspar and Florencio Gaspar to desist from exercising acts of possession or ownership over the premises.
SO ORDERED.[8]
Considering the foregoing, the motion is hereby GRANTED.
Accordingly:
1) Free Patent Nos (XI-I) 4093, (XI-1) 4362, (XI-I) 4094 and (XI-I) 4361 are hereby ordered cancelled; 2) TCT No. T-454799, a derivative title of OCT No. P-10220, is hereby ordered cancelled; 3) TCT Nos. T-304045, T-304046, T-304047, T-304048, T-304049, T-304050, T-304051, T-304052, T-304053, and T-304054, which are derivative titles of OCT No. P-10221, are hereby ordered cancelled; 4) TCT Nos. T-146-2011006573 and T-146-2013003191, both derivative titles of OCT No. P-9923, are hereby ordered cancelled; 5) TCT No. T-454798 , a derivative title of OCT No, P-9924, is hereby ordered cancelled; 6) In addition, defendants Leonora Gaspar and Florencio Gaspar are ordered to surrender the aforementioned derivative titles to the Register of Deeds of Davao City and the latter is directed to cancel Original Certificate of Title in its book and records; 7) Also, defendants Leonora Gaspar and Florencio Gaspar and their successor's in-interest are ordered to desist from exercising acts of possession or ownership over the premises; and 8) Finally, Lot No. 7793-A, Csd 11-006493, Lot No. 7792-A, Csd -11-006606, Lot No. 7793-C , Csd 11-006493 and Lot No. 7792-C, Csd-11-006606 covered by the aforesaid patents and Certificate of title be reverted to the government.SO ORDERED.[17]
The State's Comment brought to light a similar petition for annulment of judgment against the exact same June 30, 2015 Order of the Regional Trial Court in Civil Case No. 20,665-91, titled Hsi Pin Liu, et al. v. Republic of the Philippines, docketed as CA-G.R. SP No. 07590-MIN involving the cancelled titles in the name of Spouses Gaspar.The CA denied petitioners' Motion for Reconsideration[24] in its Resolution dated April 30, 2019.[25]
In CA-G.R. SP No. 07590-MIN, the petitioners in that case petitioned to annul the same Order sought to be annulled here in this case. They raised the same issues and argument, but were found by this court's Twenty-Third Division to be without merit in its Resolution dated August 24, 2016. It held:A conscientious review of the rollo of the case reveals that the assailed 30 June 2015 Order of the RTC is neither a judgment, final order or resolution within the context of [Rule 47].The present case here is no different. The doctrine of stare decisis et non quieta movere (to adhere to precedents and not to unsettle things which are established) finds application here.[23]
Section 1, Rule 47 of the Rules of Court respecting Annulment of Judgments or Final Orders and Resolutions provides:
Section 1. Coverage. — This Rule shall govern the annulment by the Court of Appeals of judgments or final orders and resolutions in civil actions of Regional Trial Courts for which the ordinary remedies of new trial, appeal, petition for relief or other appropriate remedies are no longer available through no fault of the petitioner.x x x
In the present case, the assailed Order has nothing to do with the disposition of Civil Case No. 20,665-91, but instead, merely deals with the enforcement of RTC's final and executory April 20, 1999 Decision. For that reason, said Order cannot amount to a judgment, final order or resolution, rather, it contemplates the residual authority recognized by Section 6, Rule 135 of the Rules of Court.
For the guidance of the bench and bar, the Court restates in capsule form the jurisprudential pronouncements already reflected above respecting non-compliance with the requirements on, or submission of defective, verification and certification against forum shopping:While it was petitioners' counsel who signed the verification and certification against forum shopping, the Court finds that there is substantial compliance with the requirements stated under the above-quoted paragraphs 3 and 6. Verification is simply intended to secure an assurance that the allegations in the pleading are true and correct and not the product of the imagination or a matter of speculation and that the pleading is filed in good faith.[35] This was complied with by petitioners' counsel when he stated the following in his verification and certification against forum shopping attached to the instant petition:
1) A distinction must be made between non-compliance with the requirement on or submission of defective verification, and non-compliance with the requirement on or submission of defective certification against forum shopping.
2) As to verification, non-compliance therewith or a defect therein does not necessarily render the pleading fatally defective. The court may order its submission or correction or act on the pleading if the attending circumstances are such that strict compliance with the Rule may be dispensed with in order that the ends of justice may be served thereby.
3) Verification is deemed substantially complied with when one who has ample knowledge to swear to the truth of the allegations in the complaint or petition signs the verification, and when matters alleged in the petition have been made in good faith or are true and correct.
4) As to certification against forum shopping, non-compliance therewith or a defect therein, unlike in verification, is generally not curable by its subsequent submission or correction thereof, unless there is a need to relax the Rule on the ground of "substantial compliance" or presence of "special circumstances or compelling reasons."
5) The certification against forum shopping must be signed by all the plaintiffs or petitioners in a case; otherwise, those who did not sign will be dropped as parties to the case. Under reasonable or justifiable circumstances, however, as when all the plaintiffs or petitioners share a common interest and invoke a common cause of action or defense, the signature of only one of them in the certification against forum shopping substantially complies with the Rule.
6) Finally, the certification against forum shopping must be executed by the party-pleader, not by his counsel. If, however, for reasonable or justifiable reasons, the party-pleader is unable to sign, he must execute a Special Power of Attorney designating his counsel of record to sign on his behalf.[34]
That I am the legal counsel of the petitioners and I am also an attorney-in-fact of the petitioners; petitioner Ma. Luisa Annabelle A. Torres is presently working and residing in Ontario, Canada, while petitioners Rodolfo A. Torres, Jr. and Richard A. Torres are working and residing in Florida, USA; and as petitioners' attorney-in-fact, I am fully armed with Special Powers of Attorney executed by the petitioners, original copies of which are attached hereto and respectively marked as Annexes "K," "L,", and "M" to form part hereof. x x xMoreover, as petitioners are all living and working abroad and could not sign the certification against forum shopping, petitioners executed their respective Special Powers of Attorney[37] designating their counsel on record to sign the certification against forum shopping on their behalf; thus:
That after conferring with the petitioners via long distance regarding the aforesaid questioned Resolutions of the Court of Appeals, we caused the preparation of the foregoing petition;
That I have read and understood the allegations contained in the foregoing petition and that the same are true and correct of my own knowledge or based on authentic records;[36] (Emphasis omitted.)
4. To elevate to the appellate court or administrative body by way of appeal or by any other legal remedies on any question of facts and/or any question of law with full power and authority to sign the verification as well as the certification against forum shopping that may be appended to any pleading or pleadings to be filed in the appellate court or administrative body.[38]Similar to the rules on verification, the rules on forum shopping are designed to promote and facilitate the orderly administration of justice; hence, it should not be interpreted with such absolute literalness as to subvert its own ultimate and legitimate objectives.[39] The requirement of strict compliance with the provisions on certification against forum shopping merely underscores its mandatory nature to the effect that the certification cannot altogether be dispensed with or its requirements completely disregarded.[40]
Petitioners basically raise before the Court the same issues which they presented before the CA. They argue that the Challenged Order of the RTC expands the coverage and effect of the RTC Decision that has become final and immutable because the Challenged Order directs the cancellation of TCT Nos. T-146-2011006573 and T-146-2011003625, which are derivative certificates of title from spouses Gaspar's original certificates of title and axe now in the names of petitioners, who were not original parties to the original case. Not being original parties to the original case, the RTC has no jurisdiction over their persons; and they are being deprived of their property without due process of law.The case of Liu is binding and applicable in the instant case based on the salutary doctrine of stare decisis et non quieta movere which means "to adhere to precedents, and not to unsettle things which are established."[42] In Chinese Young Men's Christian Association of the Philippine Islands v. Remington Steel Corp.,[43] the Court explained the importance of the rule of stare decisis when it held:
x x x x
The petition is bereft of merit.
It will be recalled that the RTC Decision ordered the "Reversion of Lot No. 7793-A, Csd-11-006493, Lot No. 7792-A, Csd-11-006606, Lot No. 7793-C, Csd-11-006493 and Lot No. 7792-C, Csd-11-006606 covered by the x x x Patents and Certificates of Title [issued in the names of Leonora Gaspar and Florencio Gaspar] to the government" and the cancellation of the said patents and certificates of title.
While the RTC Decision does not expressly include the cancellation of certificates of title subsequently derived and issued from the original certificates of title in the names of spouses Gaspar, the reversion of the subject lots to the government or the public domain cannot be fully effected without the cancellation of such derivative titles.
Indeed, the CA was correct when it dismissed the Petition for Annulment of Judgment. Not only is the Challenged Order of the RTC not a judgment or a final order or resolution, petitioners have not alleged any of the grounds sanctioned by Section 2, Rule 47 of the Rules: extrinsic fraud and lack of jurisdiction.
As correctly observed by the Republic, petitioners did not allege any extrinsic fraud committed by any of the parties. The RTC had jurisdiction over the original case for reversion and cancellation of patents and certificates of title.
Petitioners are not being deprived of their property without due process of law. Petitioners ultimately derive their rights over the subject lots from patents and original certificates of title obtained by and issued to spouses Gaspar. Since the patents and certificates of title of spouses Gaspar had been declared void due to fraud and misrepresentation and ordered cancelled, they had no right over the subject lots which they could have transferred to their immediate transferees and the latter in turn had no right which they could have transferred to their respective transferees, including petitioners. Since their predecessors-in-interest had no right over the subject lots to transfer to petitioners, the latter cannot be deprived of a right, even if it involves property, which does not exist.
Also, the well-settled doctrine is that indefeasibility of a title does not attach to titles issued pursuant to patents that have been secured by fraud or misrepresentation inasmuch as the registration of a patent under the Torrens system is not a mode of acquiring ownership and does not by itself vest title; but it merely confirms the registrant's already existing one. The certificates of title registered in the names of petitioners not being indefeasible can be ordered cancelled.
The CA was correct in invoking the residual authority of the RTC. As authorized by Section 6, Rule 135 of the Rules, the RTC may issue all auxiliary writs, processes and other means necessary to carry its jurisdiction into effect, and if the procedure to be followed in the exercise of such jurisdiction is not specifically pointed out by law or by the Rules, any suitable process or mode of proceeding may be adopted which appears conformable to the spirit of the said law or Rule. It cannot be denied that the Challenged Order was issued by the RTC to execute its Decision of April 20, 1999, specifically ordering the reversion of the subject lots to the government.[41]
The doctrine of stare decisis is one of policy grounded on the necessity for securing certainty and stability of judicial decisions, thus:To stress, the facts of the instant case and those of the Liu case are substantially the same. The RTC Branch 8 ordered the cancellation of the TCTs of herein petitioners and of Hsi Pin Liu, in its Order dated June 30, 2015 because their TCTs were all derived from OCT Nos. P-10221 and P-9923 issued in the names of Florencio and Leonora, respectively.[45] To recall, in its Decision dated April 20, 1999, the RTC ordered the cancellation of the free patents and OCTs of the Spouses Gaspar by reason of fraud and misrepresentation attendant in their issuances and directed that the lots covered by the order of cancellation be reverted back to the government.[46] Herein petitioners and Hsi Pin Liu, et al., separately filed petitions for annulment of the RTC Order dated June 30, 2015 wherein both respectively alleged that they were not original parties in Civil Case No. 20,665-91, the court had not acquired jurisdiction over their person, and they were denied due process. The CA dismissed both petitions.Time and again, the court has held that it is a very desirable and necessary judicial practice that when a court has laid down a principle of law as applicable to a certain state of facts, it will adhere to that principle and apply it to all future cases in which the facts are substantially the same. Stare decisis et non quieta movere. Stand by the decisions and disturb not what is settled. Stare decisis simply means that for the sake of certainty, a conclusion reached in one case should be applied to those that follow if the facts are substantially the same, even though the parties may be different. It proceeds from the first principle of justice that, absent any powerful countervailing considerations, like cases ought to be decided alike. Thus, where the same questions relating to the same event have been put forward by the parties similarly situated as in a previous case litigated and decided by a competent court, the rule of stare decisis is a bar to any attempt to relitigate the same issue.[44]
Section 6. Means to carry jurisdiction into effect. — When by law jurisdiction is conferred on a court or judicial officer, all auxiliary writs, processes and other means necessary to carry it into effect may be employed by such court or officer, and if the procedure to be followed in the exercise of such jurisdiction is not specifically pointed out by law or by these rules, any suitable process or mode of proceeding may be adopted which appears comfortable to the spirit of the said law or rules.[22] Rollo, p. 68.