363 Phil. 539
MENDOZA, J.:
WHEREFORE, after a careful scrutiny of the evidence submitted, the Court finds preponderance of evidence in favor of the Plaintiff, Priscilla Cruz-Gatchalian, and against the Defendant, Silvina Torres Vda. de Cruz, to vacate the lot consisting of 698[9] sq. m. more or less covered by the Original Certificate of Title No. P-397-C located at San Nicolas, Bulacan, Bulacan and all person claiming rights under her, to pay P100.00 a month for the reasonable use of the property from the extra-judicial demand on May 29, 1989 until she vacates the premises and pay P500.00 as attorney's fee without pronouncement as to cost.Petitioner appealed the case to the Court of Appeals, which rendered the questioned decision. The appellate court upheld the jurisdiction of the Municipal Trial Court and affirmed private respondent's right to material possession, as distinguished from possession de jure, of the property in question.
There is one exception, however, and that is where it appears during the trial that, by the nature of the evidence presented, the issue of possession cannot be decided without deciding the issue of ownership. In such a case, the jurisdiction of the municipal court is lost and the action should be dismissed.... An illustration is the case of Teodoro v. Balatbat, where the defendant claims possession by virtue of a deed of sale allegedly executed by the plaintiff, who in turn denied its authenticity. As there was no indication that the defendant's claim was unfounded, the municipal court could not continue with the case because it had lost the competence to decide it.The contention has no merit. The excerpt quoted, as clearly indicated, states the exception. The ruling in Dante v. Sison, which is precisely against petitioner's position, is that an action for reconveyance or annulment of title filed by the defendant in an ejectment case cannot defeat the jurisdiction of the ejectment court. This Court held in Dante v. Sison:
The only issue in this case is whether or not the hearing of an ejectment case in the Municipal Trial Court may be stayed by the pendency of an annulment of sale case, involving the same property, subsequently filed with the Regional Trial Court.More importantly, the law has undergone a change since Ching v. Malaya, the case in fact cited by petitioner, was decided. R.A. No. 296 (Judiciary Act of 1948), ยง88, under which the case was decided, allowed inquiries into questions of ownership only for the limited purpose of determining "the character and extent of possession and damages for detention." But after the enactment of B.P. Blg. 129 (Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980), municipal/ metropolitan trial courts have been given the power to determine ownership questions, though provisionally, in cases where the issue of ownership is intertwined with the question of possession. Thus, after surveying relevant legislation over three decades, this Court, in an opinion by Justice Regalado, concluded in Refugia v. Court of Appeals:[14]
We rule in the negative.
In the recent decisions of this Court, we have repeatedly held that the filing of an action for reconveyance of title over the same property or for the annulment of the deed of sale over the land does not divest the Municipal Trial Court of its jurisdiction to try the forcible entry or unlawful detainer case before it. . . This is so because, while there may be identity of parties and subject matter in the forcible entry case and the suit for annulment of title and/ or reconveyance, the rights asserted and the relief prayed for are not the same. . . The respondents in ejectment proceedings cannot defeat the summary nature of the action against them by simply filing an action questioning the ownership of the person who is trying to eject them from the premises. [citations omitted][13]
These issuances changed the former rule under Republic Act No. 296 which merely allowed inferior courts to receive evidence upon the question of title solely for the purpose of determining the extent and character of possession and damages for detention, which thereby resulted in previous rulings of this Court to the effect that if it appears during the trial that the principal issue relates to the ownership of the property in dispute and any question of possession which may be involved necessarily depends upon the result of the inquiry into the title, then the jurisdiction of the municipal or city courts is lost and the action should be dismissed. With the enactment of Batas Pambansa Blg. 129, the inferior courts now retain jurisdiction over an ejectment case even if the question of possession cannot be resolved without passing upon the issue of ownership, with the express qualification that such issue of ownership shall be resolved only for the purpose of determining the issue of possession. In other words, the fact that the issues of ownership and possession de facto are intricately interwoven will not cause the dismissal of the case for forcible entry and unlawful detainer on jurisdictional grounds. (Emphasis added)The jurisdiction of inferior courts to resolve the issue of ownership in ejectment cases, while not plenary, is certainly broader than merely for the purpose of determining the extent of possession. One of the guidelines set forth in the same case of Refugia indicates the scope of their power, thus:[15]
Where the question of who has prior possession hinges on the question of who the real owner of the disputed portion is, the inferior court may resolve the issue of ownership and make a declaration as to who among the contending parties is the real owner. In the same vein, where the resolution of the issue of possession hinges on a determination of the validity and interpretation of the document of title or any other contract on which the claim of possession is premised, the inferior court may likewise pass upon these issues. This is because, and it must be so understood, that any such pronouncement made affecting ownership of the disputed portion is to be regarded merely as provisional, hence, does not bar nor prejudice an action between the same parties involving title to the land.Nor does the fact that the parties base their respective claims of possession on evidence of ownership make ownership the principal issue in the case or qualify the action as one for reconveyance instead of ejectment. The jurisdiction of a court over the subject matter is determined by the allegations of the complaint and cannot be made to depend upon the defenses set up in the answer or pleadings filed by the defendant.[16] Since there is no dispute that the allegations of the complaint filed by private respondent sufficiently qualify the case as one for ejectment, the inferior court acquired jurisdiction over the subject matter thereof.