G.R. No. L-23691 November 25, 1967
Arsenio Reyes, petitioner, vs. Antonio Noblejas, in his official capacity as Land Registration Commissioner, and Jose Santos, in his capacity as the Register of Deeds of Rizal, respondents.

FACTS

The spouses Leonardo Gamboa and Aurora L. Cariaga, registered owners of properties under the Torrens system, mortgaged said properties to the Philippine National Bank. Upon the mortgagors’ failure to pay the indebtedness, the mortgage was extrajudicially foreclosed under Act No. 3135 , as amended. The properties were sold at public auction on February 6, 1963, to petitioner Arsenio Reyes as the highest bidder. The sheriff issued the corresponding certificate of sale on February 21, 1963, which fixed the redemption period as “one (1) year from and after the date of the sale.” However, the duplicate of this certificate of sale was not filed or registered by the sheriff in the Office of the Register of Deeds. On February 10, 1964, petitioner presented for registration an Affidavit of Consolidation of Ownership and a Deed of Sale from the bank. The Register of Deeds denied registration on the ground that the redemption period had not yet expired, invoking the Supreme Court ruling in Salazar v. Meneses, which held that the redemption period in execution sales begins to run from the date of registration of the certificate of sale, a rule also applicable to extrajudicial foreclosure sales of registered land. Petitioner appealed, contending that Section 6 of Act 3135 clearly provides the redemption period runs from the date of sale. The Land Registration Commissioner sustained the Register of Deeds’ denial, prompting this petition for review.

ISSUE

Whether the period of redemption for properties sold at public auction pursuant to an extrajudicial foreclosure of real estate mortgage under Act No. 3135 , as amended, is to be counted from the date of the execution of the certificate of sale by the sheriff or from the date of its registration in the Office of the Register of Deeds.

RULING

The Supreme Court ruled that the redemption period should be reckoned from the date of registration of the certificate of sale in the Office of the Register of Deeds, not from the date of the auction sale. The Court affirmed the resolution of the Land Registration Commissioner. It held that for registered land under the Torrens system, Section 6 of Act 3135 must be applied in conjunction with pertinent provisions of the Rules of Court and the Land Registration Act ( Act No. 496 ). Specifically, Section 27, Rule 39 of the Revised Rules of Court mandates the registration of the sheriff’s certificate of sale, and Section 50 of Act 496 provides that the act of registration is the operative act to convey and affect the land. The Court cited Salazar v. Meneses, which applied the same principle to extrajudicial foreclosure sales, stating that the certificate of sale takes effect as a conveyance only upon registration. This rule protects not only the immediate parties but also possible redemptioners, such as the debtor’s successors in interest or subsequent lienholders, by providing constructive notice through registration. Consequently, the Register of Deeds correctly denied the registration of the Deed of Sale and Affidavit of Consolidation, as the redemption period had not lapsed from the date of registration of the certificate of sale.