MOP, Bk 10, v.5, 89
“. . . It appears that on June 3, 1959, respondent prepared a document entitled ‘Extrajudicial Settlement and Sale’ where Sixto Abol and his seven (7) children, one of them Esperanza Abol, agreed, among other things, to sell to respondent a piece of land owned by them in common, identified as Lot No. 2566, situated at Sibulan, Negros Oriental, and covered by Original Certificate of Title No. O-V-691. In view of Esperanza’s refusal to sell her share of the land and to sign the document transferring the property to respondent, the latter deleted her name appearing on the deed of conveyance already signed by her father and six (6) others to make it appear that the latter were the only co-owners of Lot No. 2566, filled the blank spaces of the acknowledgment of the deed reserved for the residence certificates of the vendors with those issued to persons other than the vendors and had it ratified before a notary public.Although it is undisputed that respondent cancelled the name of Esperanza Abol in the document in question and initialed the cancellation, there is no evidence to show that he thereby intended to make it appear that Esperanza Abol was not a co-owner of the land referred to in the instrument. Respondent’s intention, it is inferred, in cancelling her name was to make clear her failure to sign the document, which cancellation, after all, did not alter the document in any material way. Moreover, there is evidence to show that the cancellation was at her own request, as she was promised by her father a larger share in a bigger property owned in common by her with her father and brothers. If it were respondent’s intention, as previously found, to conceal the fact that Esperanza Abol was a co-owner of the property conveyed and to facilitate its sale to him through a flawless document, it would have been convenient for him to prepare another document without her name. The fact that he used the same document with Esperanza’s name merely cancelled and initialed by him lends credence to his declaration that Esperanza agreed to forego her share in that property for the reason already stated.
“On June 11, 1959, respondent presented the falsified deed of conveyance in the Office of the Register of Deeds in Dumaguete City, on the strength of which Original Certificate of Title No. O-V-691 was cancelled and Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-7272 issued to the seven (7) co-owners, with Esperanza Abol excluded. On the same day, Transfer Certificate of Title No. R-7276 cancelling Transfer Certificate of Title No. 7272 was issued in the name of respondent as registered and sole owner of Lot No. 2566.”