Professional Documents
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Custodio Vs Corrado
Custodio Vs Corrado
146082
DECISION
QUISUMBING, J.:
For review on certiorari is the Decision1 dated July 28, 2000 of the Court of
Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 45764, and its Resolution2 dated November
13, 2000 denying the motion for reconsideration. The CA affirmed the
Decision3 dated September 9, 1997 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of
Balayan, Batangas, Branch 9, in RTC Appeal Case No. 3301, which reversed
the Decision4 dated August 19, 1996 of the Municipal Trial Court (MTC) of
Calatagan, Batangas, dismissing respondent Rosendo F. Corrados Complaint
for Recovery of Possession and Ownership with Injunction and Damages, in
Civil Case No. 120.
On January 2, 1995, respondent filed with the same MTC another complaint
for recovery of possession and damages against petitioner, docketed as Civil
Case No. 120,7 and which is the core case subject of the present petition.
The parties agreed on the following stipulation of facts during the pre-trial
conference:
1. That Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-21342 covering the lot in question
is in the name of plaintiff Rosendo Corrado;
4. That the dismissal of Civil Case No. 116 which involved the same parties
was by reason of alleged non-compliance with Presidential Decree No. 1508;
7. That the Decision of the Municipal Trial Court was appealed before the
Regional Trial Court which was docketed as RTC Appealed Case No. 3099.10
After trial, the MTC rendered judgment dismissing the Complaint, the
dispositive portion of which reads as follows:
SO ORDERED.11
The MTC initially resolved several issues and ruled inter alia that: (a) It has
jurisdiction over the complaint which is an accion publiciana case although
denominated as recovery of possession and ownership; (b) Prior compliance
with barangay conciliation is not required because the parties reside in nonadjoining barangays of different municipalities with respondent residing in
Barangay Binubusan, Municipality of Lian, Batangas, and petitioner residing
in Barangay Balitoc, Calatagan and the complaint included a prayer for
preliminary injunction and TRO; and (c) The filing of the present Civil Case
No. 120 does not constitute forum shopping and the judgment in the
previous ejectment case in Civil Case No. 116 will not amount to res judicata
in the present case because there was no judgment on the merits in Civil
Case No. 116. The MTC noted that there was no adjudication as to the rights
However, the MTC finds that the petitioners continued stay on respondents
property has factual and legal basis since evidence on record, such as milling
tickets, convincingly show that petitioner has been a tenant of respondents
father, Crisanto Corrado, cultivating the latters three (3)-hectare sugarcane
land, including the subject lot, since 1961. It did not give credence to
respondents claim of ignorance to the tenancy relationship between
petitioner and his father since the latest milling tickets showed that
petitioner continued working on the subject lot even after it was transferred
to respondents name.
Respondent appealed the MTC decision to the RTC, which set aside and
reversed the MTC decision, the dispositive portion of which reads as follows:
SO ORDERED.12
In reversing the MTC, the RTC found merit in respondents allegation that
petitioner cannot claim any right to possess respondents lot on the premise
that he is an alleged tenant of respondents father. The RTC found it
unacceptable for the MTC to rule that respondent is bound by the action of
his father in allowing petitioner to construct a house on the subject lot and
occupy the same. The RTC stressed that the parties had stipulated during
the pre-trial that the subject lot is registered under the name of respondent
Petitioner filed a petition for review in the Court of Appeals which affirmed
the RTC decision. The dispositive portion of the decision reads as follows:
SO ORDERED.13
The CA ruled that the principle of res judicata is inapplicable because there is
no identity of causes of action between Civil Case Nos. 116 and 120. It
stressed that the former is an ejectment suit which was dismissed for failure
of respondent to state the date of deprivation of possession while the latter
is for recovery of possession, and not ejectment. It also brushed aside the
alleged tenancy relationship between petitioner and respondent, noting that
the milling tickets were issued for respondents father as the planter and
petitioner as the tenant, but without any evidence showing that they
referred to the subject lot and without any indication that petitioner was
getting his share from the subject lot.
Petitioner filed a Motion for Reconsideration, which was denied by the Court
of Appeals.
Hence, this petition submitting the following issues for our resolution:
II
III
In our view, the relevant issues for our resolution are: (a) whether or not
the principle of res judicata is applicable in this case; and (b) whether the
alleged tenancy relationship between petitioner with respondent and the
latters father was established by preponderance of evidence.
On the first issue, petitioner insists that the principle of res judicata is
applicable in this case since the material allegations in the complaints of Civil
Case Nos. 116 and 120 would clearly reveal an identity of cause of action.
Citing jurisprudence, it argued that what should control in determining the
cause of action are the averments in both complaints seeking recovery of
possession of the subject lot with the ultimate goal of dispossessing and
ejecting petitioner from the property and restoring it to respondent and not
the different captions of the two complaints. He argued further that the
application of the principle of res judicata only requires substantial and not
absolute identity of causes of action. For his part, respondent countered that
while there may be identity of parties and subject matter, the causes of
action are not identical in Civil Case Nos. 116 and 120 as the former is one
for ejectment to recover material possession while the latter is one for
recovery of possession and ownership of the subject land.
For res judicata to bar the institution of a subsequent action, the following
requisites must concur: (1) the former judgment must be final; (2) it must
have been rendered by a court having jurisdiction of the subject matter and
the parties; (3) it must be a judgment on the merits; and (4) there must be,
between the first and second actions, (a) identity of parties, (b) identity of
subject matter, and (c) identity of cause of action.15
In the present case, the judgment in Civil Case No. 116 was not on the
merits. A judgment on the merits is one rendered after argument and
investigation, and when there is determination which party is right, as
distinguished from a judgment rendered upon some preliminary or formal or
merely technical point, or by default and without trial.16 Thus, a judgment
on the merits is one wherein there is an unequivocal determination of the
rights and obligations of the parties with respect to the causes of action and
the subject matter of the case.17 In this case, the MTCs dismissal of Civil
Case No. 116 was anchored on its lack of jurisdiction and lack of proof of the
date of demand without determining and resolving who has the right of
possession between petitioner and respondent. Verily, the case was not
resolved on the merits but was dismissed on technical points. A judgment
There is also no identity of causes of action between Civil Case Nos. 116 and
120. We agree with the findings of the CA which we find no reason to set
aside, to wit:
In Civil Case No. 116, the case as found by the MTC is an ejectment suit
and for failure of plaintiff-private respondent to state the date when he was
deprived of his possession, the court held that it did not entitle him to file an
ejectment suit against herein defendant-petitioner. In Civil Case No. 120, the
cause of action is for recovery of possession and not ejectment. These are
two separate causes of action and therefore the principle of res judicata does
not apply to the present case.19
Indeed, an ejectment case such as Civil Case No. 116, involves a different
cause of action from an accion publiciana or accion reinvindicatoria, such as
Civil Case No. 120, and the judgment of the former shall not bar the filing of
another case for recovery of possession as an element of ownership. A
judgment in a forcible entry or detainer case disposes of no other issue than
possession and establishes only who has the right of possession, but by no
means constitutes a bar to an action for determination of who has the right
or title of ownership.20 Incidentally, we agree with the findings of the RTC
that Civil Case No. 120 is not an accion publiciana but more of an accion
reinvindicatoria as shown by the respondents allegation in the complaint
that he is the registered owner of the subject lot and that the petitioner had
constructed a bungalow thereon and had been continuously occupying the
same since then.
Further, it bears stressing that the issue on the applicability of res judicata to
the circumstance obtaining in this case is far from novel and not without
precedence. In Vda. de Villanueva v. Court of Appeals,22 we held that a
judgment in a case for forcible entry which involved only the issue of
physical possession (possession de facto) and not ownership will not bar an
action between the same parties respecting title or ownership, such as an
accion reinvindicatoria or a suit to recover possession of a parcel of land as
an element of ownership, because there is no identity of causes of action
between the two.
At any rate, the issue of tenancy relationship had already been settled
during the pre-trial stage where the parties stipulated that the subject lot is
registered in the name of respondent and that petitioner was never a tenant
of respondent. Petitioner and respondent are bound by such stipulations
which are deemed settled and need not be proven during the trial. Pre-trial
is a procedural device intended to clarify and limit the basic issues between
the parties. It thus paves the way for a less cluttered trial and resolution of
the case. Its main objective is to simplify, abbreviate and expedite the trial,
or totally dispense with it. Prescinding therefrom, it is a basic legal precept
that the parties are bound to honor the stipulations they made during the
pre-trial.24
WHEREFORE, the petition is DENIED for lack of merit, and the assailed
Decision dated July 28, 2000 and Resolution dated November 13, 2000 of
the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 45764 are AFFIRMED. No
pronouncement as to costs.
SO ORDERED.
Footnotes
2 Id. at 106.
3 Id. at 62-70.
4 Id. at 34-43.
8 Id. at 20-25.
11 Id. at 43.
12 Id. at 70.
13 Id. at 97.
14 Id. at 15.
16 Sta. Lucia Realty and Development, Inc. v. Cabrigas, G.R. No. 134895, 19
June 2001, 358 SCRA 715, 733 citing Diwa v. Donato, G.R. No. 97547, 29
July 1994, 234 SCRA 608, 615.
18 Ibid.
19 Rollo, p. 97.
20 Bautista v. Fernandez, G.R. No. L-24062, 30 April 1971, 148 Phil. 567,
578.
23 Gener v. De Leon, G.R. No. 130730, 19 October 2001, 367 SCRA 631,
642.