GR 37345; (December, 1933) (3) (Digest)
G.R. No. 37345, December 23, 1933
ALEXANDRA REPOLLO, ET AL. vs. BERNABE BALECHA (Consolidated with G.R. Nos. 37346-37351)
FACTS
Bernabe Balecha previously applied for the registration of certain parcels of land. The herein applicants (Alexandra Repollo and the Paguyos) opposed that application. The trial court denied Balecha’s application and sustained the oppositions, finding that the opponents were the actual owners in open, public, adverse, and continuous possession for at least forty years. Balecha did not appeal that judgment. Subsequently, the opponents (Repollo and the Paguyos) filed these seven separate applications for registration of the same lands. Balecha opposed these applications. The parties agreed to adopt the evidence presented in the prior case as the sole evidence in these new cases. The trial court granted the applications and denied Balecha’s opposition.
ISSUE
Whether the prior judgment in the case where Balecha was the applicant and the current applicants were the oppositors constitutes res judicata in these present cases.
RULING
No, the prior judgment does not constitute res judicata. The issue in the first case was whether Balecha had a right to register the land in his name. The law in force at that time (prior to Act No. 3621) did not allow the court to order registration in the name of the oppositor even if the application was denied. The issue in the present cases is different: whether the land should be registered in the name of the present applicants. Furthermore, even if Act No. 3621 (which allowed such registration in favor of an oppositor) was already in effect when the first judgment was rendered, it was not invoked, and the court merely denied Balecha’s application without ordering registration in the oppositors’ names. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court affirmed the appealed judgment, giving credit to the factual findings in the prior decision between the same parties, as held in Cruz vs. Cruz, and finding that the evidence supported registration in favor of the applicants.
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