GR 153263; (August, 2008) (Digest)
G.R. No. 153263 ; August 28, 2008
EMMA VER-REYES, petitioner, vs. HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS, THE LAND REGISTRATION AUTHORITY, THE REGISTER OF DEEDS OF CAVITE, and IRENE MONTEMAYOR, respondents.
FACTS
Petitioner Emma Ver-Reyes purchased a parcel of land in 1976 from the spouses Marciano and Virginia Cuevas but failed to register the sale. In 1992, the same Cuevas spouses sold the property to respondent Irene Montemayor, who registered the sale and obtained a new Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT). Upon discovery, Ver-Reyes filed a petition for reconveyance against Montemayor in 1994, which the Regional Trial Court dismissed. Ver-Reyes appealed to the Court of Appeals.
During the pendency of the appeal, Ver-Reyes discovered that Montemayor had executed a Waiver and Quitclaim in 1998, renouncing all claims to the property in favor of the heirs of Engracia Isip, whose title was derived from an original certificate of title of the Republic of the Philippines. Based on this waiver, the Register of Deeds cancelled Montemayor’s TCT and issued a new one in the name of Isip’s heirs. Ver-Reyes then filed a notice of lis pendens on the new title, which the Register of Deeds refused to annotate.
ISSUE
Whether the Register of Deeds correctly denied the annotation of the notice of lis pendens on the title of the heirs of Engracia Isip.
RULING
Yes, the Register of Deeds correctly denied the annotation. The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ decision, holding that a notice of lis pendens is proper only when the action directly affects the title to or possession of the specific property described therein. The pending reconveyance suit between Ver-Reyes and Montemayor was an action in personam, binding only between the parties and their successors-in-interest who derived their title through them.
The title of the Isip heirs was not derived from Montemayor’s cancelled title but was traced back to an independent source—the original title from the Republic of the Philippines. Since the Isip heirs were not parties to the suit and did not claim title through Montemayor, the pending case did not directly affect their property. Therefore, the lis pendens could not be annotated against their title. The Register of Deeds has the ministerial duty to register instruments only when they are legally entitled to registration; here, the lis pendens did not meet the statutory requirements under the Rules of Court and the Property Registration Decree as it did not affect the specific title in the name of the Isip heirs.