G.R. No. 144708 . August 10, 2001.
RAFAEL ALBANO, VENANCIO ALBANO and EDWIN PATRICIO, petitioners, vs. COURT OF APPEALS (Seventh Division) and IGLESIA FILIPINA INDEPENDIENTE assisted by BISHOP JUANITO FERRER, FR. BEN VILANUEVA, Vintar Parish Priest and AMADOR LEANO, Layman’s Vice Chairman, respondents.

FACTS

Monico Albano and Nemesio Albano allowed the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) to construct a small church on their 1,854-square meter unregistered property in Vintar, Ilocos Sur in 1908. On May 1, 1910, Monico Albano and Vicente Albano executed a document agreeing to transfer ownership of the property to Fr. Platon de Villanueva in exchange for a parcel of land yielding five “uyones a pagay,” with the condition that if Fr. Platon failed to deliver the land after the harvest and a new priest was sent, the agreement would be revoked. Fr. Platon died in 1912. On April 7, 1916, his heirs, Elena, Eulogia, and Benigno Villanueva, executed a document donating the property to the IFI. The IFI later renovated the chapel and built a convent. Antonina Albano (Vicente’s wife) was allowed to stay in the convent and later operated a sari-sari store on the premises. Years later, Venancio Albano requested and was granted permission for his brother Rafael to stay in the old brick house on the property. Rafael and his son-in-law, Edwin Patricio, later made improvements and extended a banana plantation, damaging the fence. The IFI protested and eventually filed an action for quieting of title, claiming ownership by virtue of the 1916 donation. The Albano petitioners claimed their ancestors had occupied the property since the 1800s, the donation to Fr. Platon was never consummated as he failed to deliver the riceland, and they never revoked the agreement. The trial court declared the IFI owner of the portion containing the chapel and convent (acquired by acquisitive prescription) and the Albanos owners of the portion with the brick house ruins. Both parties appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court, ruling that the Albano petitioners’ inaction from 1910 to 1972 constituted laches. The Albano petitioners filed a motion for reconsideration out of time, citing their counsel’s late receipt of the decision.

ISSUE

The primary issue is whether the Court of Appeals correctly affirmed the trial court’s decision declaring the IFI as owner of a portion of the property by acquisitive prescription and the Albano petitioners as owners of another portion, and whether the petitioners’ motion for reconsideration should be admitted despite being filed out of time.

RULING

The Supreme Court denied the petition. It held that the motion for reconsideration was filed out of time and no compelling reason was shown to relax the procedural rules. On the merits, the Court found no reversible error in the Court of Appeals’ decision. It agreed that the Albano petitioners were guilty of laches for their inaction from 1910 until the IFI filed suit in 1972, despite the alleged non-fulfillment of the condition in the 1910 agreement. Their failure to assert their right for over sixty years barred them from claiming the property. The Court also upheld the application of acquisitive prescription, as the IFI had been in possession of the property in the concept of an owner for more than sixty years. The trial court’s division of the property, awarding the chapel and convent area to the IFI and the brick house area to the Albanos, was affirmed.