Case Brief of the Torres Case Facts: In the 1960s, as per report of the LRA Verifications Committee, it appears

that Dominga Roxas Sumulong filed a petition for administrative reconstitution of transfer certificate title (TCT) No. 56809 with a certified photocopy of a purported owners duplicate of the title as basis. The Land Registration Commission (LRC) allowed the reconstitution and the register of deeds of Quezon City proceeded with the same and issued TCT No. (56809) 113005 in the name of Dominga Roxas Sumulong, married to Teoderico Torres. (The LRC was the predecessor of the Land Registration Authority [LRA].) After reconstitution, the register of deeds proceeded with the registration of various transactions and the issuance of new TCTs. (The LRA found that the owners duplicate copy used for the reconstitution of TCT No. 56809 was a forgery and concluded that the title reconstituted from itTCT (56809)113005was irregularly issued. According to LRA, the origin being spurious, all the titles that emanated therefrom are likewise spurious. Sumulong sold several lots with a total area of 431,041 square meters or 43.1 hectares, covered by TCT No. (56809) 113005, to spouses Manuel and Rosalina Alio. These are Lot No. 644, Lot No. 648, Lot No. 682, Lot No. 685, Lot No. 686, Lot No. 687 and Lot No. 690, all located within the Piedad Estate in Quezon City. The Alios paid P290,000 and executed a promissory note for the remaining balance of P4,020,420 payable in five years. Then they made Sumulong execute a deed of sale to convey to them the seven lots. Later, they purportedly subdivided Lot No. 644 into eight lots, and of these, sold the subdivided Lots Nos. 644-A, 644-B, 644-F and 644-G as well as 648, 682 and 690, a total of seven lots, to Multi-Commercial and Realty Corp. In October 1990, Wilfredo Torres filed a complaint in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court for specific performance, cancellation of TCTs and reconveyance, alleging that the Alios had failed to pay the balance. In the case docketed as Civil Case No. Q-90-7130, the respondents were the Alios, Investment Underwriter Corp. and the register of deeds. It was later amended to include Ramon Navarro and the MultiCommercial and Realty Corp. Litigated were the seven lots sold to Multi-Commercial and Realty Corp., which in turn mortgaged them to Investment and Underwriting Corp. of the Philippines. In June 1996, the court ruled in favor of Torres and ordered the cancellation of the TCTs in the name of the Alios, and reconveyed these to Torres. This became final and executory in September 1997. To get the TCTs finally canceled, Torres filed in November 2000 a petition for the reconstitution of the original copies of TCT Nos. 162418, 162419, 162423, 162424, 117142, 117143 and 117147, and the issuance of the owners duplicate copies of these TCTs. He alleged that the original copies filed in the register of deeds were destroyed when a fire hit Quezon City Hall in June 1988. This was docketed as LRC Case No. Q13653(00). In June 2006, the court granted the petition and ordered the reconstitution of the burned TCTs, and their cancellation, and the issuance of new ones in Torres name. (The LRA said that the court simply presumed the genuineness and authenticity of these titles, and should have resolved this in the earlier case. In August 2006, the LRA asked the Office of the Solicitor General to seek the dismissal of the reconstitution petition by Torres. No other action was taken.) In November 2010, the court granted Torres motion for the revival of judgment and his prayer for a writ of possession. On May 26 this year, the court ordered the city assessors office to transfer the tax declarations encompassed by the new TCTs in Torres name. The new titles

covered the seven lots that the Alios sold to Multi-Commercial and Realty Corp., consisting of 237,514 square meters, or 23.75 hectares. Issue(s): Who among the seven (7) parties who claimed ownership over the said parcel of land has the genuine title registered under the Land Registration Authority? Held: In the decision dated 3 June 1996, the Court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff and as against defendants Rosalina Alino and Ramon Navarro and to make the following pronouncements: 1. The Transfer Certificate of Titles Nos. 112412, 162418, 162419, 162432, 162423, 163434, 117313, 117414, 117415, 117, 142, 117143 and 117147 should be cancelled by the Register of Deeds of Quezon City and the same should be reconveyed to plaintiff for having been acquired thru fraud and deception; 2. The defendants Rosalina Alino and Ramon Navarro should jointly and severally pay plaintiff the amounts of P100,000.00 and P50,000.00 as moral and exemplary damages plus P30,000.00 as attorneys fees; and 3. The defendants Alino and Navarro should likewise pay the cost of the suit.