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823,
Piedad Estate Ownership
Controversy Part I : The December
12, 2005 Decision
Last March 6, 2012, the Supreme Court en
banc promulgated its resolution in Manotok vs.
Barque, G.R. Nos. 162335 & 162605, the case
involving Lot No. 823 of the Piedad Estate (a former
friar land) located in Quezon City.
Voting 9-6, the High Tribunal DENIED WITH
FINALITY the motions for reconsideration filed by all
parties in this case. It REITERATED its August 24,
2012 decision declaring that the subject lot legally
belongs to the national government of the Republic of
the Philippines, and denying the respective claims of
the opposing parties (the Manotoks as petitioners, the
Barques as respondents, and the Manahans as
intervenors) over Lot No. 823.
(1)
(2)
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(4)
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The Court justified its pro hac vice reevaluation of the petitions based on the constitutional
principle that no doctrine or principle of law laid down
by the [C]ourt in a decision rendered en banc or in
division may be modified or reversed except by the
court sitting en banc. This, according to the Court, is
necessitated by the argument that the 2005 Decision
of the First Division is inconsistent with precedents of
the Court, and leaving that decision alone without the
imprimatur of the Court en banc would lead to undue
confusion . . . over whether the earlier ruling of the
Division constitutes the current standard with respect
to administrative reconstitution of titles.
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Issue:
Should
the
Supreme
Court,
after dismissing the Barques petition for
administrative reconstitution, act further on the
apparent problems of the Manotoks title?
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...[R]econstitution,
even
judicial
reconstitution, does not confirm or adjudicate
ownership over a property. Reconstitution merely
restores a missing certificate of title in the same
condition that it was when lost or destroyed, nothing
more. If the original title had a legal defect at the time of
the loss or destruction, as when the land covered is part
of the public forest, the reconstituted title does not cure
such defect. xxx.
There
are two
compelling
jurisdictional
reasons why the 12 December 2005 Decision of the First
Division never became final and executory. First, the
First Division has no jurisdiction to overturn a doctrine
laid down by the Court en banc or in division [such as
the decision in Sps. Antonio and Genoveva BalanonAnicete, et al. v. Pedro Balanon]. xxx.
xxx
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opinion
of
Justice
Ynares-
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Estate,
Quezon
City,
legally
belongs
to
the NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC
OF THE PHILIPPINES, without prejudice to the
institution of REVERSION proceedings by the State
through the Office of the Solicitor General. We will
also look at the dissenting opinions of the minority.
The intervening facts
After the promulgation of the December 12,
2005 decision, the Manotoks filed several motions for
reconsideration with the 1st Division but these were
all DENIED by the Court. The decision of the
1st Division was later entered in the Book of Entries of
Judgment. But when the Barques moved for the
execution of the decision, the Manotoks sought the
referral of the motion to the Court en banc, which the
Court en banc accepted on July 26, 2006.
Meanwhile, the Manahans sought to intervene
in the case, alleging that their predecessor-in-interest,
Vicente Manahan, was issued Sales Certificate No.
511 covering the subject lot.
On December 18, 2008, the Court
promulgated
an
en
bancresolution that SET
ASIDE the decision and resolutions of the 1 st Division
and RECALLED the entry of judgment. Voting 8-6
with 1 abstention, the Court REVERSED the
decisions and resolutions of the CA and the LRA,
andREMANDED the cases to the CA for further
proceedings to determine the validity of the Manotoks
title.
In due time, the CA received evidence with
primary focus on whether the Manotoks can trace
their claim of title to a valid alienation by the
Government of Lot No. 823 of the Piedad Estate,
which was a Friar Land. The Barques and Manahans
were likewise allowed to present evidence on their
respective claims that may have an impact on the
correct determination of the status of the Manotok
title.
The CA then submitted to the SC a
Commissioners Report that served as basis for
Courts August 24, 2010 en banc decision.
How the court en banc voted
The Court voted 9-5 with 1 abstention. Justice
Villarama, Jr. wrote theopinion for the Court.
Concurring
with
him
were Chief
Justice Corona, andJustices Leonardo-De Castro,
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Peralta,
Bersamin,
Abad, Perez, and Mendoza.
Del
Castillo,
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The surviving heirs of the late Homer Barque, filed a petition with
the LRA for administrative reconstitution of the original
copyof TCT No. 210177 issued in the name of Homer L. Barque,
which wasdestroyed in the fire that gutted the Quezon City Hall,
including the Office of the Register of Deeds of Quezon City,
sometime in 1988.
Insupport of the petition, petitioners submitted the owners duplica
te copy of TCT No. 210177, real estate tax receipts,
tax declarations and the Plan FLS 3168 D covering the property.
The Manotoks filed their opposition to the Barques
petition, claiming that the lot covered by the title sought to be
reconstituted by the latter forms part of the land covered by the
formers own reconstituted title, TCT No. RT-22481, and alleging
that TCT No. 210177 in the name of Homer L. Barque is
spurious.
The reconstitution was denied on grounds that the two lots
covered by the Barques title appear to duplicate the lot covered
by the Manotoks own reconstituted title; and that the Barques
plan, Fls-3168-D, is a spurious document.
On appeal, the LRA reversed the reconstituting officer and
ordered that reconstitution of the Barques title be given due
course, but only after the Manotoks own title has been cancelled
upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
The CA ordered the Register of Deeds to cancel the Manotoks
title. The latter filed these petitions to the SC.
ISSUE
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